It's A Twin Thing
by inakua
Summary: "Olivia! No, don't go over there!" McGonagall shouted, rushing after Olivia frantically. When Olivia made it to the inside of the house, she couldn't believe her eyes. "James? James! Jamie? No, no, Jamie. Wake up!" As much as she tried to hold it in, the pain came out like an uproar from her throat in the form of a silent scream. Rated T, Dumbledore!Bashing ...
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to Chapter One of 'It's a Twin Thing', for those of you wondering I have posted this before, however, I deleted it early on in the story because I wasn't happy with it. This is the new revised version, which I will be finishing! This story is rated T, dumbledore!bashing. The OC's in this story and the plot are all my own, so please don't steal any. If you would like to translate this story then please get my permission first.**

 **Disclaimer: This world belongs to the amazing J.**

* * *

 **Chapter One**

"THE DURSLEYS?!" Olivia shrieked, glaring daggers at the old man standing in front of her. At the moment all she wanted to do was hex his bloody bollocks off. She couldn't stand the sight of him, how dare the old fool do this to her nephew.

"It was for the best Miss Potter," Dumbledore said calmly, trying to her her to see reason.

"For the best?" Olivia said in disbelief, her eyes darting between the Headmasters and those of Professor McGonagalls.

Unlike Dumbledore, Olivia looked into Minerva McGonagalls eyes and saw regret, regret for allowing Harry to be given to the Dursleys. Olivia saw sadness, sadness for the two former students and friends that had just lost their lives. Olivia shook her head, she couldn't think about James, not yet, it was too soon. However, the one thing that did surprise Olivia was the look of anger and hatred that lit up McGonagalls features when her gaze landed on Albus Dumbledore.

"You can't tell me that leaving Harry with a bunch of magical hating muggles is what's best for him," Olivia told Dumbledore.

"My dear," Dumbledore began, his eyes twinkling beneath his glasses, "when Lily gave her life for young Harry she protected him with the magic of a mothers love. Petunia Dursley is the only living relative with Lilys blood in her veins, she's able to maintain the protective blood wards surrounding Harry until he is of age."

Olivia watched him critically, looking for any indications that he was being untruthful. Everyone had a tell tale gesture, something that would give them away. Luckily, Olivia knew exactly what Dumbledores weakness was. She stared him down, watching his eyes intently, until the left one twitched.

 _Got you,_ Olivia smirked up at Dumbledore, who was watching her with interest.

"You're lying Headmaster," Olivia said, it wasn't a question but a fact.

"What are you on about my girl?" Dumbledore chuckled nervously.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about sir," Olivia said spitting out sir as if it was poison, she was practically growling at the headmaster now, "while we're on the subject of lies, why don't you tell me who the secret keeper for Godrics Hollow was."

"Miss Potter, every one knows by now that it was Sirius Black," Dumbledore told her.

"Honestly Headmaster, lying really doesn't become you. Why don't you tell me the truth?" Olivia growled, her tone dangerous and mocking.

"The truth Miss Potter, is that Sirius Black was the secret keeper and it is his fault that your brother and best friend are now dead," Dumbledore snapped, his temper rising. A gasp could be heard from McGonagall, who now had a hand covering her mouth in shock.

"How dare you bring James and Lily in to this," Olivia screamed, "my twin brother has just been murdered and you talk about him as if he was nothing but another stupid pawn in your chess board. I see the look in your eyes Headmaster, you don't care that James and Lily are gone, you've been planning this from the very beginning, you didn't do any thing to help them, you just let them die!"

"I tried my best to stop their deaths Miss Potter, but when we got there it was already too late," Dumbledore told her bitterly trying to reign in his anger.

"Once again you lie old man," Olivia spat, "Sev came to you and told you about Voldemorts plans to kill Lily and James and you told him that you'd protect them, you told him they'd be safe and that no harm would come to either of them, you gave him your word."

Dumbledore was just about to argue when Olivia cut him off.

"No. You don't get to speak, I'm not done." Olivia told him, her voice deadly and laced with venom. "You know who really betrayed my brother and best friend, don't you. It was all your fault, you told James and Lily that swapping secret keeper was the best idea and who did you go and suggest? Pettigrew. You told them that Pettigrew would be the best option, that slimy bastard ratted them out and as far as I'm concerned it was all your fault. I hold you responsible for their deaths Headmaster, I don't trust you, I never have and never will. Oh and just to let you know, you have an extra space in the orders inner circle because I quit." Olivia hissed, turning around storming out of the office.

"Stupefy," Dumbledore yelled, pointing his wand at Olivia.

"Minerva, would you please take Miss Potter up to Gryffindor common room and I will come and have a word with her in a minute," Dumbledore said.

"Of course Albus," McGonagall said, levitating Olivia and making her way through the corridors of Hogwarts and towards the Gryffindor common room.

...

Back in his office Dumbledore was contemplating what to do with Olivia Potter, he'd been sat there for a while and was still indecisive.

"I best go pay her a visit,"he muttered to himself.

...

Olivia sat up in a panic, gasping for air and looking around the room cautiously. She caught sight of a figure standing in the corner and grasped for her wand, only to find that it wasn't there. In an attempt to escape she jumped from the sofa and made to attack the person the muggle way. She ran towards them and swiped them clean of their feet. Knowing that they would be winded she ran for the door.

"Olivia," The figure gasped. Olivia froze, she knew that voice.

"Minnie?" Olivia asked nervously. Turning around she saw Minerva McGonagall gasping for breath on the floor, "Merlin, I'm so sorry." She cried, running over to her in an attempt to help her up.

"No," McGonagall rasped, "take my wand, stupefy me and run," She told her.

"What? I can't leave you!" Olivia protested.

"Go, use the whomping willow and run, don't look back," She said. Olivia nodded mutely, took McGonagalls wand and stupefied her, then ran for her life.

She ran through the corridors of Hogwarts, ignoring the cries of anger from the portraits and out into the grounds. The Whomping Willow was in sight, she ran up to it, dodging the branches effortlessly and tapped the root quickly. The entrance opened and she race through it until she'd gotten to the other side. As soon as she was through she apparated to the only place she felt safe; home.

"Sev?" She called urgently once she'd apparated into the foyer of the house.

"Liv?" A voice called back, Severus Snape appeared at the door way and ran to her side in an instant. What is it?" He asked.

"We need to get out of here," She told him, running upstairs. Severus followed her while she ran.

"Why?" he asked.

"Dumbledore is not going to be happy when he realises that I'm gone," She replied. Severus looked at her blankly, wondering what an earth she was talking about.

"Come here, let me show you," She hissed. She grabbed his and in hers and he gasped at what he was seeing. Olivia had played the events of earlier on to him through their connection. They were soul mates, which meant that if they had physical contact then they could share with each other their memories and emotions.

"That bastard," Snape snarled.

"I know but we have to go," Olivia told him, calmly know because she could see him getting into one of his moods.

"Of course," he said, "Where will we go?"

"Gryffindor Manor," She replied and chuckled at the shocked expression on his face.

"It's real?" He asked.

"Of course it is," she said, "Though it is thought a myth throughout the Wizarding world it is common knowledge in the Potter family because we own it," She said smugly.

"And you never thought to tell me this?" He asked her.

"There was no reason too," She said sternly, "finish packing I'll go get our little girl." Without waiting for Severus to reply she ran into the room opposite theirs.

It was a simple room, the walls were painted a soft pink and the furniture was elegant and painted a pure white. She walked over to the crib in the far corner and smiled as her little girl smiled up at her.

"Hey there beautiful," Olivia cooed, picking her daughter up and levitating all her stuff into a suitcase with an extension charm on it. Just as she had finished Severus came walking through the door, a suitcase in his hand and his wand in the other.

"You ready?" He asked, she nodded and walked over to him. He shrunk both the suitcases and tucked them into his pocket.

"Hey there poppet," He said, greeting his daughter softly, placing a light kiss onto her forehead. She giggled in joy and reached out her hands towards Severus.

"Daddy," She gurgled, Severus took her out of Olivias arm and snuggled her close.

"Take my arm," Oliva told him, smiling at the interaction between father and daughter. Severus obliged and clung onto his daughter as he felt the pull of apparation.

"We're here," Oliva declared once they had arrived.

"Look around while I go and get Harry," Olivia said, only to be stopped by Severus' hand on her arm.

"Be careful," He said softly.

"I'll be back as quick as you can say Quidditch," She smirked up at him, giving him a quick peck on the lips before apparating ont Privet Drive. When she got there she gasped in shock. There he was, her little Harry bundled up in blankets and left on the doorstep. She tried to control her anger and swept her nephew up in her arms quickly before apparating back to Gryffindor manor.

"You got him?" Severus asked from the top of the stairs.

"Got him," Olivia replied, clinging to the bundle in her arms.

"I've unpacked all our stuff and there is a room for the kids opposite us," Severus told her.

"That was quick," Olivia remarked, astounded that he'd managed to get sorted so quickly, "then again, this is you we're talking about Sev," She said cheekily.

"Very funny Liv," Severus said sarcastically, "know lets go say good night to our daughter and place Harry down to rest."

"Of course," Oliva said, walking up the stairs and following Severus to the room he'd chosen. When she walked in she noticed that he's transfigured another cot for Harry and had already place their daughter in her own.

"Goodnight Harry," She said, smoothing his hair out before placing him in the cot.

"Night, Aunt Livvy," He muttered, Olivia chuckled, he really was bright for a one year old.

"Mamma," Her own daughter called from the other side of the room, "You sing?" She asked.

"Mummy sing," She said, "Lie down baby."

 _Lullaby, and good night, in the skies stars are bright._

 _May the moon's silvery beams bring you sweet dreams._

 _Close your eyes now and rest, may these hours be blessed._

 _'Til the sky's bright with dawn, when you wake with a yawn._

 _Lullaby, and good night, you are mother's delight._

 _I'll protect you from harm, and you'll wake in my arms._

 _Sleepyhead, close your eyes, for I'm right beside you._

 _Guardian angels are near, so sleep without fear._

 _Lullaby, and good night, with roses bedight._

 _Lilies o'er head, lay thee down in thy bed._

 _Lullaby, and good night, you are mother's delight._

 _I'll protect you from harm, and you'll wake in my arms._

 _Lullaby, and sleep tight, my darling sleeping._

 _On sheets white as cream, with a head full of dreams._

 _Sleepyhead, close your eyes, I'm right beside you._

 _Lay thee down now and rest, may your slumber be blessed._

 _Go to sleep, little one, think of puppies and kittens._

 _Go to sleep, little one, think of butterflies in spring._

 _Go to sleep, little one, think of sunny bright mornings._

 _Hush, darling one, sleep through the night,_

 _Sleep through the night,_

 _Sleep through the night._

"Sweet Dreams Hermione," Olivia whispered.

...

 _The house ceased to exist, the walls had long since crumbled and in their place stood thick beams of wood, blackened and charred from where the flames had licked at them. The ruins were still smoking and she could see the faintest glow of embers as she maneuvered around the creaking threshold. Glass littered the floor where the windows had broken and memories lay blackened and twisted on the ground._

 _"Minnie, where are they?" Oliva mumbled mumbled, her emotions were starting to get the better of her. Tears were running freely down her cheeks, something bad had happened and she needed to know. She took off, running towards where the burrow had once been._

 _"Olivia! No, don't go over there!" McGonagall shouted, rushing after Olivia frantically._

 _When Olivia made it to the inside of the house, she couldn't believe her eyes._

 _"James? James! Jamie? No, no, Jamie. Wake up!" As much as she tried to hold it in, the pain came out like an uproar from her throat in the form of a silent scream. The beads of water started falling down one after another, without a sign of stopping. He was dead, eyes fixed and vacant. Olivia crouched, one hand over his still chest. He was gone. She picked up his hand, so cold and pale, touching it to her newly wet cheek, closing her eyes for just a moment. In that eternal second she, felt his presence, like the last goodbye they never got to have. Her mind struggled to stay in that moment, to keep him close. Before she knew it she was wrenched away from her father by the burly arms of Hagrid._

 _"No, stop! No!" She screamed hysterically, kicking and hitting Hagrd who still had a hold of her. He hissed in pain as she dragged her heel down his shin, she tried to make her way back to her brother when McGonagalls' arms encircled her waist from behind. McGonagall rubbed the tears away with her fingers and started rocking her calmly back and forth._

 _"Minnie, where's Lils?" Olivia asked, hoping her best friend was alright. "Minnie! Where's Lily?"_

 _Again no response, she turned around to face McGonagall.._

 _"Minnie?" She whispered, her voice cracking as she heard the vulnerability in her voice. McGonagalls' eyes darted to the floor, as if she was trying to hide them from her. When she looked back up they were filled with unshed tears._

 _"No, no no no no no." Olivia muttered to herself, this couldn't be happening. They can't be gone, they're not dead. They're not. She mentally tried to reassure herself._

"Liv?" A voice called, "Liv, wake up!"

Olivia woke up abruptly, grabbing her wand from beneath her pillow and training it on the person in front of her.

"Sev?" Olivia asked, keeping her wand pointed at the man in question.

"It's me liv," Severus reassured her. At this confirmation Olivia lowered her wand and threw herself into Severus' waiting embrace.

"I'm so sorry," Olivia spluttered, "I saw J-James, he was d-dead and I couldn't ... Lily ... Dead ... they're eyes, they weren't their o-own anymore. They're g-gone Sev." Olivia said, her voice breaking as reality caught up to her.

"They're gone." She muttered, her eyes welling up with un-shed tears.

It had just dawned on her that she'd never see the bright green of Lily's eyes light up in excitement when she learnt a new spell, or the cheeky grin that James gave her when he'd thought of an idea for a new Prank. She'd never hear the light twinkling of Lily's laugh that made her heart melt with happiness. Never again would she laugh with her brother until they were literally pissing themselves and tears were streaming down their faces. She'd never go on a shopping trip again where Lily would complain about how much money she spent on clothes and then buy loads for herself afterwards. James would never again make her his famous hot chocolate, or hug her when she needed him. She'd never see either of them again and that was one of the things that hurt the most. All she had was the memories and although that should be enough it wasn't the same as actually having them there with her.

She collapsed on the bed, tears running down her face. Olivia cried like there was too much raw pain inside her to be contained. She cried like her spirit needed to break loose from her skin, desperate to release an elemental rage on the world.

Severus scooped her up in his arms, he knew this was coming and was prepared to go to any lengths to help relieve her pain. He himself was grieving, Lily was his best friend as well but he couldn't even begin to imagine what it felt like to lose a best friend, a brother and almost a nephew in one night.

"It'll be okay, baby. I'm here for you, I'll always be here for you," Severus whispered softly into her ear, rubbing her back soothingly and tracing small circles along her hips. He felt Olivia relax and the crying start to subside but she was still sobbing into his chest. She pulled herself closer to Severus, seeking out his warmth and comfort, burying her head into the crook of his neck.

"I love you Severus," Olivia whispered hoarsely, her voice scratchy from all the crying.

"And I you," Severus replied, the love in his voice causing tears to well up in her eyes once more. Noticing that she was tearing up again Severus pulled her closer.

"What is it now love?" He asked quietly.

"I love you so much and I don't know what I'd do without you," She sobbed, they stayed in each-others arms for what felt like and eternity before Severus tensed above her.

"What is it Sev?" Olivia asked, scared for the worst even though she knew it was coming.

"He's calling me," Severus told her, rushing up to gather his robes from the wardrobe and shrugging them onto his shoulders.

"I'll be back," Severus informed her, walking over and kissing her passionately before retreating and putting up his defences. His face had turned stone cold and his eyes gave away no emotion.

"Hurry up," Olivia called softly as he left the house and Olivia was left to her own thoughts in the room that ad suddenly turned frosty.

Olivia wasn't sure how long she lay there for but it must of been at least half an hour, she just couldn't get back to sleep. Eventually, she got up and headed into the room opposite hers. There in their cots lay her daughter and nephew, she honestly didn't know what she'd do if something bad happened to them, they were her world.

She watched them sleep for a couple more minutes before a bright light burst into the room, Oliva panicked as she noticed the patronus as Alice Longbottoms, she hoped that they were alright. However, her fears were confirmed when an urgent message burst out of it.

"LIV! DEATH EATERS, THEY'RE HERE, THEY'RE GOING TO TAKE NEVILLE. GO AND - _*screaming in pain*_ "

Olivia cringed as the patronus dissipated leaving behind the screams of Alice Longbottom, she had to help them, they were in trouble and she wasn't going to let any one else die. Both Hermione and Harry woke up at the bright light and began crying.

"Shh," Olivia soothed, reaching to pick up Hermione and then going to take Harry in her other arm, "It's okay." Once they had both calm down, Olivia rushed into her room, popped the kids down on her bed, put a coat on and grabbed her wand. She picked both Harry and Hermione up before racing downstairs.

"McKinnon Manor," Olivia screamed, throwing in the floo powder before being engulfed by the green flames.

"Marls?" Olivia screeched when she entered the foyer.

"Liv?" Marlene screamed down the stairs racing towards her, "What is it?"

"I need you to take Hermione and Harry for the night," She told her.

"Why? Is everything alright?" Marlene asked concerned.

"No but I can't explain. Please just look after them and if anything happens I need to you to swear you'll take care of them," Olivia pleaded.

"But Liv I -" Marlene began but was cut off.

"Please Marls, promise me!" Olivia asked desperately.

"I promise," Marlene told her.

"Thank you and if anything happens then nobody can know that Hermione is Severus'. Okay?" Olivia asked.

"Okay," Marlene replied, she knew that the only people who knew about Severus and Olivia being married was herself, James, Lily and Alice Longbottom. No-one but them knew about Hermione either and if people knew it would compromise Severus as a spy, none of them trusted Dumbledore so he wasn't allowed to know.

"If it comes down to it then let people know she'd mine but leave Sev out of it." Olivia said,

"Okay," Marlene replied, taking the two babies off of her.

"I love you 'Mione," Olivia said tearfully, "I love you so much."

"Mummy?" Hermione asked fearfully, Olivia could see the confusion in her little girls eyes and hoped she'd see her again.

"Mummy loves you Hermione, I love you too Harry," Olivia said, placing a kiss on each of their foreheads.

"Aunt Livvy?" Harry asked, watching as his Aunt moved back towards the floo.

"Thanks Marls, I owe you," Olivia said gratefully.

"I love you Liv, be careful," Marlene said, even though she didn't know where Olivia was heading she trusted her and hoped all went to plan.

"Love you to Marls, take care," Olivia replied, taking one last look at the two toddlers who were screaming at her departure and hoping that she'd make it back to see them again.

...

"Alice?" Olivia screamed, she'd come straight from Marlenes and found the silence in the house to be deafening. She climbed the stairs cautiously and made her way into Alice and Franks bedroom.

"Alice?" Olivia whispered again, hoping that she wasn't too late, she froze when she arrived at the bedroom. There on the floo was Frank and Alice, drenched in blood and barely conscious. At seeing the state of her friends Olivia instantly drooped and ran to their aid.

"Frank?" She asked frantically shaking him vigorously.

"Alice?" She cried, her voice shattering in her throat as she looked at them. She was so caught up that she didn't notice three figures approaching from the shadows.

"Well well well, if it isn't wee Potty," Bellatrix cackled. Olivia spun around at the sound of her voice and had a curse on the end of her tongue when a red light at her from her right.

"Expelliarmus," Rodolphus cried, catching Olivias wand with ease and smirking when Olivia gaped at him.

"What? Did you not realise there were three of us?" Rabastan sneered at her, he was standing to her left and had his wand pointed at her heart.

Olivias heart was racing but she wasn't going to let them see her fear, she was defenceless and they could easily kill her on the spot right now.

"What did you do to them?" Olivia growled, all three of them laughed.

"Don't worry, they're not dead," Beallatrix told her, "yet." She added, smiling at her mockingly.

"Why are you here? What do you want?" Olivia hissed back at her, ignoring the terror she was currently experiencing.

"We were just teaching these Blood Traitors a lesson deary, nothing to worry about," Rabastan told her coldly, moving closer to her with every word he said. They were now centimetres apart and Olivia did her best to not shudder at the feeling of his breath against her skin, the thought alone made her want to throw up.

"Don't worry though, you'll get your turn soon," He whispered menacingly into her ear. Without a second thought Olivia drove her knee up into his private parts and smiled smugly when he cried out in pain and clutched his area in pain.

"You Bitch!" He screamed, rolling on the floor in pain. Olivia spat at him and was rewarded with a crucio sent in her direction from Rodolphus who was red with anger.

"How dare you," He screamed but was quickly cut off by the sound of apparation down stairs.

"It's the aurors," Bellatrix hissed, running over to Rabastan and apparating him out, closely followed by Rodolphus. Olivia ran for her wand and shot curses at the places where they stood. Before she knew it the room was filled with aurors and she was being restrained with magical ropes.

"You Miss have just earnt yourself a cell in azkaban, for the use of unforgivables." An auror said gruffly, Olivia was about to protest when she felt the unmistakable tingle of a silencing spell wash over her. Sure enough, when Olivia tried to voice her innocence nothing escaped her lips.

When the auror started to drag her outside she began to start kicking and trying desperately to get free, there was no way she was going to be taken without a fight. After all, she'd done nothing wrong and she had a daughter and nephew to get back to, not to forget a husband who was due back from a death eater meeting any second now.

When Olivia finally managed a goof kick at the burly auror she tried to make a run for it, although her hands were tied up her legs could still function. Before she could make it away however, she was hit with a stunner in the back of her back and fell face first onto the floor. In her haste she didn't notice a certain Headmaster in the shadows, watching the scene play out and being grateful that he didn't have to deal with Olivia himself.

...

Severus didn't arrive home until late the next evening, he hoped that Olivia was alright and hadn't been waiting up for him this whole time. When he'd gotten to the death eater meeting Lucius Malfoy decided that he needed a complicated potion brewing that would try and help them bring back the Dark Lord. Severus spent the next 15 hours brewing this potion and then being punished for the next two when it didn't work.

"Liv?" Severus called when he came through the floo. When he didn't get an answer back he walked up to their room but she wasn't in there.

 _She must be in with the kids_ , He thought to himself, praying that he was correct.

When he entered the kids room he froze, the cribs were empty and clothes were thrown around as if someone was in a hurry. Rushing downstairs Severus checked the living room, gardens and finally the kitchen. Screaming for Olivia at the top of his lungs, when he got to the kitchen he found a newspaper on the table, an owl had probably brought it in this morning. He dismissed it, putting it to the side, until he caught a glimpse of the article on the front page.

 _ **THE BOY WHO LIVED, FOUND AND POTTER A CRIMINAL?**_

 _ **By Rita Skeeter**_

 _ **Early this morning Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived, was found in McKinnon Manor, where Marlene McKinnon was found dead this morning. The Boy Who Lived was in an upstairs bedroom.**_

 _ **Late last night Olivia Potter was found in the home of Frank and Alice Longbottom, she was charged with the use of unforgivables on both Mr and Mrs Longbottom, which has landed them both in St Mungos: Spell Damage with insanity from prolonged experience with the cruciatious. Their son, Neville Longbottom, was found in a cupboard in the very room they were tortured in, it is thought that the poor boy was locked in their while he had to endure the screams of his parents.**_

 _ **Albus Dumbledore has taken charge of the boy who lived, found in the McKinnon Estate but won't talk to anyone about his whereabouts. For know though, some questions remain. Why did Olivia Potter torture the Longbottoms? Who killed Marlene Mckinnon? And what was The Boy Who Lived doing with the late Marlene McKinnon in the first place?**_

Severus crumpled the paper up, tears were running down his face and the china in the kitchen was shaking and shattering due to the immense amount of raw magic radiating from him. As he looked back down at the table where the newspaper had been place he noticed a scrap of paper, looking closer he noticed the scribbled hand writing.

 _Alice and Frank in trouble, gone to help. Hermione and Harry with Marls. Love you x_

Severus picked up the note and held it close to his heart. He felt like his heart had just broken into a million little pieces, a million little pieces that could never be repaired. He screamed out in anguish, the pain emanating from his cries filled the manor and Severus crumpled to the floor, tears dripping off his chin like clock work.

The only two people in the world that he loved unconditionally, had been taken from him. His wife in Azkaban and his daughter was most likely dead.

From that day forward Severus Snape closed himself from the rest of the world, he would be nice to no-one, not when they'd taken away the only things he'd held dear. Not when they'd taken away his only chance of a happy life.

...

Meanwhile, in Azkaban Prison Olivia Potter had just received the Daily Prophet, she cried for the loss of her children and for the death of her closest friends and family.

"Liv?" A voice called from the cell next to her. Olivia jumped up and raced to the window of iron bars that separated her from the cells on either side of her, on the other side was a man with shaggy black hair and tattoos all over his body.

"Padfoot?"

* * *

 _ **Thank you so much for reading, I'd love it if you left a review, letting me know what you thought of this chapter, your hopes for the future and if there is anything I can improve :)**_

 _ **A/N: I've taken the idea of Olivias' imprisonment from when Sirius was captured in the books, because it wasn't unusual for people to resort to violence in those times and because she was on the scene of the crime, firing spells it looked as if she'd inflicted the injuries on the Longbottoms so the aurors just took her in and sentenced her straight to Azkaban because - like with Sirius - they were adamant that it was her and were convinced that they would be wasting their time giving her a trail because they'd only find out what they already knew - or thought they knew. The whole Harry and Hermione being related plot isn't for every one but I hope you continue to read, you never know it might just grow on you ;D**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you to those who reviewed my last chapter, it really means a lot. Here's Chapter Two, I hope you enjoy it :)**

* * *

 _*Last Time*_

 _Olivia wasn't sure how long she lay there for but it must of been at least half an hour, she just couldn't get back to sleep. Eventually, she got up and headed into the room opposite hers. There in their cots lay her daughter and nephew, she honestly didn't know what she'd do if something bad happened to them, they were her world._

 _She watched them sleep for a couple more minutes before a bright light burst into the room, Olivia panicked as she noticed the patronus of Alice Longbottom, she hoped that they were alright. However, her fears were confirmed when an urgent message burst out of it._

 _"LIV! DEATH EATERS, THEY'RE HERE, THEY'RE GOING TO TAKE NEVILLE. GO AND - *screaming in pain*"_

 _Olivia wanted to cry out in anger as the patronus disappeared leaving behind the screams of Alice Longbottom, she had to help them, they were in trouble and she wasn't going to let any one else die._

 _..._

 _Severus crumpled the paper up, tears were running down his face and the china in the kitchen was shaking and shattering due to the immense amount of raw magic radiating from him. As he looked back down at the table where the newspaper had been place he noticed a scrap of paper, looking closer he noticed the scribbled hand writing._

 _Alice and Frank in trouble, gone to help. Hermione and Harry with Marls. Love you x_

 _Severus picked up the note and held it close to his heart. He felt like his heart had just broken into a million little pieces, a million little pieces that could never be repaired. He screamed out in anguish, the pain emanating from his cries filled the manor and Severus crumpled to the floor, tears dripping off his chin like clock work._

 _The only two people in the world that he loved unconditionally, had been taken from him. His wife in Azkaban and his daughter was most likely dead._

 _From that day forward Severus Snape closed himself from the rest of the world, he would be nice to no-one, not when they'd taken away the only things he'd held dear. Not when they'd taken away his only chance of a happy life._

 _..._

 _Meanwhile, in Azkaban Prison Olivia Potter had just received the Daily Prophet, she cried for the loss of her children and for the death of her best friend._

 _"Liv?" A voice called from the cell next to her. Olivia jumped up and raced to the window of iron bars that separated her from the cells on either side of her, on the other side was a man with shaggy black hair and tattoos all over his body._

 _"Padfoot?"_

 **Chapter Two**

10 years. Olivia Potter had been in Azkaban Prison for 10 years. When she got the news that her daughter was most likely dead she'd cried for months, the only person who calmed her down was none other than Sirius Black.

On the night she'd gotten that dreadful newspaper she realised that Sirius was in the cell next to her, they kept each other sane and did the best that they could to comfort one another.

However, today was going to be the worse. It was September 1st and today all Olivia could think about was her precious little Hermione.

"She was meant to start Hogwarts today Padfoot," Olivia cried, holding Sirius' hand through the window that connected their cells.

"I know Liv, I know and I'm so sorry," Sirius said, trying to sooth her the best he could.

"I'm sorry, It's been 10 years, I shouldn't be behaving like this, I thought I'd gotten over all the crying," Olivia sniffed, trying her best to wipe the tears from her face that just kept falling.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, you're her mother. You can't help but mourn for her, you love her more than anything and as your best friend I say cry your heart out," Sirius said, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles.

"Sev used to do that to me," Olivia mumbled softly, remembering all the great times she'd had with Hermione and Severus before it was cruelly snatched away from her.

"Unfortunately, I'm all you've got because we're not getting out of this hell hole any time soon," Sirius joked.

"We will, we'll get out eventually," Olivia whispered as she drifted off to sleep, thoughts of her family drifting into her mind.

...

Severus sat in his quarters at Hogwarts staring at the photo in his hand with tears dripping down his face. He couldn't believe it had been 10 years since his baby girl had been taken from him.

"She was going to start Hogwarts this year," He cried, "SHE WAS GOING TO START HOGWARTS!" He screamed, picking up the glass full of fire whiskey next to him and lobbing it at the wall in front of him.

"She was going to start Hogwarts," He muttered, as he cried himself to sleep on the floor. A picture of his two loves and a note clutched to his chest.

...

"Girl, hurry up or we're going to be late," Jean called down the stairs, Hermione hurried down the stairs, her trunk in her hand and a massive smile plastered on her face.

"Ready, let's get a move on, you're being so slow," Hermione said excitedly.

"Don't run down the stairs young lady, show some respect and stop slouching," Richard grunted as he made his way into the hallway from the kitchen. Hermione's smile instantly dissipated.

"Sorry Father," Hermione replied, lifting her body into a straight line," I apologise mother, I didn't mean to sound disrespectful, I'm just excited."

"Very well," Jean nodded, "Have you got all your stuff sorted?"

"Yes Mother," Hermione told her, lifting her trunk up as if to prove it.

"Let's make a move then," Richard said sternly, as Richard and Jean began to walk over to the door, Hermione hurried in front of them and opened the door before they reached it. She stood back as they exited. Richard didn't say anything, he just walked out and got himself in the car. Jean gave Hermione a little nod and proceeded to follow Richard over to the car.

"No need to say thank you," Hermione muttered under her breath, closing the door and locking it behind her. She didn't expect any less from her parents, if she could even call them that.

Hermione didn't like calling them her parents, she refused to call them anything other than mother and father, mum and dad just sounded to personal and she honestly didn't like them one bit. They constantly nagged Hermione about her behaviour and respect, she wasn't allowed to slouch, she wasn't to run or be cheeky, she had to hold her knife and fork just like they did, she had to do her part round the house, which was everything. She didn't have very many friends because they made her come home straight after school and clean the house.

The only real friend she'd ever had was Martha, their maid. Even though Martha was their maid she didn't do very much because Richard and Jean gave all the jobs to Hermione, but whenever they were out she'd help Hermione with her jobs and then make her treacle tart to eat before they returned, it was her favourite pudding.

All Hermione ever wanted was two loving parents who let her be herself, she wanted real parents. When she was 7 she'd found adoption papers in the attic while she was cleaning it out. She didn't let Richard and Jean know that she knew about her adoption and carried on as if they were her real parents. Along with the papers she'd found a locket, it has a golden heart with a snake and a lioness engraved onto the front, when she opened the locket it played a song. She remembered hearing it the first time she'd opened the locket, it had reduced her to tears. The song was so familiar, she remembered having it sung to her when she was younger, it was her real mothers voice, she was sure of it, and ever since then she'd never taken it off.

Hermione didn't remember much about her real parents, she had vague memories of a women with hair just like hers, and big blue eyes. She remembered the lullaby she'd sing every night, it was the same one as in the locket. She also had memories of a little boy who she saw almost everyday, she could picture his bright green eyes but everything else was a blur.

Then there was her father, she knew nothing of her father and didn't remember anything about him. She'd come up with a number of possibilities for what could've happened. Perhaps he had left before she was born, maybe her mother never told him she was pregnant or maybe, and Hermione certainly hope this wasn't true, he was dead. Hermione didn't like to think about the last one, even though she couldn't remember him she felt an odd sort of connection with him. She knew from the memories of her mother that she must have her Fathers eyes and if she could take a guess she would've said that the Lioness and snake on the front of her locket represented her parents, the lioness her mother and the snake her father.

"Girl!" Richard shouted, jolting Hermione out of her thoughts, "Get in the car."

"Sorry Father," Hermione replied, getting into the back seat and buckling herself in. Hermione sat silently while her parents talked in the front.

"What time are we meant to be there Richard?" Jean asked.

"The train leaves at 11o'clock, so we'll be there just on time," Richard informed her.

"Do you have the ticket?" Jean asked again.

"It's in your purse Jean," Richard said as if she was stupid.

"Silly me, I forgot I put them in there," Jean giggled, while Hermione had to restrain herself from vomiting.

Jean Granger was your typical rich snob, in public she portrayed an intelligent, polite woman who was into politics and talking about the latest fashion trends. Wheras, in private she was a ditsy, loud mouthed individual who knew nought about the politics and fashion, she leaves her personal shopper to buy clothes that match her dark skin and soft brown curls and when asked about politics she simply nods along and copies what everyone else says.

Richard Granger, however, was the perfect gentleman in the eyes of everyone else. He was tall, handsome and extremely well spoken, he had his own dentist practice and a PhD, he was married to an equally beautiful wife and had a massive mansion to live in. In reality, he was a arrogant man, who drank way too much for it to be considered healthy, had bad anger management and he'd had plastic surgery countless times to keep himself looking 'young'.

"Richard?" Jean asked in a panic, "It says the train is on Platform 9 3/4."

"9 3/4? Don't be silly Jean, there is no such thing," Richard said sternly.

"Honestly Richard, the ticket says Platform 9 3/4," Jean insisted, waving the tickets in front of his face.

"Get those tickets out of my face woman! I'm driving," Richard hollered at her. Jean quickly retracted her hand from in front of Richards face and began muttering about how she wasn't lying and that he needed to control himself.

While the two adults began bickering again Hermione got out her copy of Hogwarts: A History and began reading it for perhaps the twelfth time in just the last 2 weeks.

She was particularly fascinated by the description of the four houses and the rivalry that they had between them. She thought it awfully silly that all the houses were in some sort of silly war to prove who was the best house.

However, two houses caught her attention in particular, Gryffindor and Slytherin. Gryffindors were known to exhibit traits such as Courage, Chivalry and Determination, while Slytherins were resourceful, cunning and ambitious.

Another thing that grabbed her attention was the animals that represented each of these houses. Gryffindors was a lion and Slytherins was a snake. This lead her on to believe that both of her parents must have been a witch and wizard, which is why she is a witch. After thinking more on it she realised that her mother must've been in Gryffindor, hence the lioness on the locket and her father a Slytherin, which explains the snake.

"Girl we're here, get your head out of that book and get a move on," Richard shouted at her, it seemed that Jean and Richard had carried on arguing and now both of them were angry at the other.

"Coming Father," Hermione replied, stuffing the book in her bag and tumbling ungracefully out of the car.

"Stand up and behave like a young lady should," Jean snapped at her.

"Yes Mother," Hermione replied dejectedly. Reluctantly Hermione followed her 'parents' and they stopped in between the platforms 9 and 10.

"Now what do we do?" Jean asked, frustrated that they didn't know what to do.

"We run through the wall," Hermione told them, pointing to the wall between platform 9 and 10.

"Don't be ridiculous," Richard growled at her.

"I read it in Hogwarts: A History," Hermione told him. "You don't have to come with me, I'll just say bye here and be on my way."

"You don't tell us what to do girl!" Richard said, his voice getting louder.

"Richard, stop. People are staring," Jean hissed at him. Richard quickly calmed himself and made himself look presentable before continuing in a low voice which Hermione thought sounded more dangerous than when he'd shouted.

"Me and your mother are going to discuss what's going to happen, turn around," He told her. Hermione did as she was told and turned around, she thought making her do this was ridiculous but she let them have their fun, besides she wasn't going to see them for months and she didn't want to come back to angry parents because she disobeyed them.

"Me and your father have decided that we'll say goodbye here and you can go on your own," Jean told her, grabbing her shoulders and twisting her back around to face them.

"Very well Mother," Hermione replied, gritting her teeth. They really were stupid, she'd already voiced that idea and Richard had snapped at her for the suggestion.

"Goodbye Hermione," Jean said, patting her daughter on the back.

"Bye Mother," Hermione said, curtsying when her father sent her an evil glare.

"Goodbye Hermione," Richard deadpanned.

"Goodbye Father," Hermione replied, bowing her head politely at him. She then ran straight at the wall in front of her and disappeared into it. Hermione only wished that she could've seen there expressions as she melted into the seemingly solid walls.

As Hermione came out onto the other side she felt an unfamiliar warmth wash over her, in front of her was the most amazing train she'd ever seen. Excitedly she ran over and jumped into one of the doors, grateful that Richard and Jean weren't there to berate her on her 'unladylike' behaviour.

Hermione made her way along the corridors until she found an empty compartment to sit in, she placed her trunk on the holders above her and pulled out her notebook, in it was all the information she'd ever gathered on her parents. There were countless theories as to what could've happened to them and loads of drawings of what her mother could've looked like. The only information she had on her father was his potential house and drawings of his eyes. Hermione vowed that this year she was going to find out who her parents were, she just had to, she didn't want to live with Richard and Jean Granger forever.

...

Hermione had been doing another drawing of her mother when two boys entered her compartment..

"Can we sit here?" One of them asked, Hermione gestured to the seats opposite her, never taking her eyes off the picture she was still drawing. Both boys sat down and started chatting while Hermione finished her drawing, this one had to be her favourite so far. She'd given her mother hair the same colour as hers but made it less frizzy, she imagined her mother would have been able to tame her curls a bit better than Hermione did. She'd given her dark skin but it was still light enough to notice the freckles scattering the bridge of her nose, just like Hermione. She obviously had bright blue eyes, just like how she remembered in her dreams. She had lips that were plump and petite, her cupids bow was what one could describe as perfect, it wasn't too defined but it was defined enough that you could still tell she had one.

"What you doing?" One of the boys asked, Hermione looked up and really took in the appearance of the two boys. One was ginger and by the looks of it was quite tall for his age. Every where you looked was freckles covering his pale skin and his eyes were a deep baby blue.

"Drawing," Hermione replied. She turned her attention to the boy opposite her, he was about to ask something when all of a sudden he stopped. Hermione looked at him and gasped, those eyes. They were the ones she'd seen so many times in her dreams, they were exactly the same.

"Your eyes," They both said at the same time, chuckling nervously at each other.

"You seem familiar," Hermione told him, gazing at him intently.

"So do you," The boy replied, staring right back at her.

"Okay, this is getting weird," the other boy exclaimed, Harry and Hermione both shook their heads as if it was just their imagination and snapped back into reality.

"Sorry," Hermione apologised, "I'm Hermione, It's nice to meet you."

"I'm Ron, Ron Weasley," The ginger one said, reaching out to shake her hand, Hermione took it gladly and smiled at the boy.

"I'm Harry Potter," The other one said, smiling shyly at her.

"Harry Potter? I've heard about you, you're the boy who lived aren't you!" Hermione exclaimed in excitement.

"Yeah, that's me," Harry said nervously.

"I'm so sorry," She said, "You don't like being called that do you?" Hermione asked him, sensing his unease.

Harry simply shook his head and tried to flatten his hair over his forehead where Hermione could see his scar was peeking through.

"It's okay, you can be just Harry to me," Hermione told him, "I don't care if you're famous or not."

"Really?" Harry asked timidly, a bright smile gracing his face.

"Really," Hermione replied, smiling right back at him.

"So what were you drawing?" Ron asked, taking the notebook from Hermione and staring down at the page. Harry looked over Rons shoulder and his eyes bugged out of his head.

"Wow, she's beautiful," Harry said in awe. Hermione quickly snatched back the notebook and snapped it shut.

"What's she like?" Ron asked, unfazed by the notebook being taken so violently.

"I wouldn't know," Hermione replied sadly.

"Why not?" Ron asked, Harry mentally slapped him for his insensitivity, it was obviously a sore subject.

"She gave me away when I was two," Hermione replied, reaching up to clutch the locket around her neck.

"What about your father?" Ron asked sadly, wishing she had someone. He couldn't imagine growing up without a family, it must've been awful.

"I don't know anything about him, the only thing I think I know about him is that his eyes look like this," Hermione replied, re-opening her notebook and scanning over the pages until she found one where she'd drawn her fathers eyes. Ron and Harry looked at the drawing and then back up at her.

"They're just like yours," Harry said, glancing back down at the picture.

"Yeah," Hermione sighed, "My mums eyes were blue, I still have a couple of memories of her but none of my dad so I guess they're like mine."

"I'm sorry Hermione," Ron apologised, "I should never have brought it up."

"It's okay Ron, I enjoy talking about them it's just sad. You must know what it's like Harry," Hermione said.

"Yeah, I do," Harry said, smiling at her sadly.

"This year my goal is to find out who my parents are," Hermione told them.

"Really? So do you think they're wizards then?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, I have this locket," Hermione said, reaching into her robes to take her locket out, "There's a lioness and a snake on the front so I think my mum was a Gryffindor and my dad was a Slytherin."

"A Slytherin?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, why?" Hermione replied.

"Well, Slytherin is the evil house. There's not a witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin," Ron told her.

"That sounds ridiculous Ron," Hermione argued.

"It's not, honest. My brothers told me and you-know-who was Slytherin," Ron insisted.

"That's only one wizard though Ron, they can't all be that bad," Harry said.

"Yeah, I suppose," Ron sighed, shrugging his shoulder, "I don't want to be in Slytherin though."

"What house do you think you'll be in then?" Harry asked.

"I want to be a Gryffindor," Ron said excitedly, "my whole family have been in Gryffindor so far."

"Gryffindor does sound fun," Harry agreed.

"I wouldn't mind any house," Hermione told them, "I'm leaning more towards Gryffindor though, I wouldn't mind Slytherin. Honestly, I just want to be in one of the houses that my parents could've been in," She said truthfully.

"Same for me, my mum and dad were both Gryffindor," Harry reminded them.

"So what do you think Hogwarts is going to be like?" Ron asked excitedly. Hermione grinned at Ron before bombarding him and Harry with millions of questions about what they thought Hogwarts was going to be like. They weren't due to arrive at Hogwarts for another two hours so they talked the whole way, until finally they pulled into Hogsmeade station.

...

"Wow," Hermione said in awe, admiring Hogwarts from the boats as they made there way across the black lake.

Hermione, Harry and Ron had talked until they arrived at Hogsmeade station and then were escorted to the boats that would take them to Hogwarts by Hagrid. Hermione was surprised to find that Harry already knew Hagrid, he seemed nice enough and Hermione had nearly stopped breathing when he crushed her and Ron into a bear hug, telling them that any friend of Harrys was a friend of his.

"It really is beautiful, Isn't it," Harry said, staring up at the castle in adoration.

"Sure is," Ron agreed, his eyes twinkling at the sight of Hogwarts.

"Are you guys ready?" Hermione asked as they hit the shore and made there way out of the boats.

"I hope we're in the same house," Harry told them.

"Same here," Ron said, smiling at the two of them. They'd forged a bond of sorts after all the stories they shared on the Hogwarts express and Ron could tell that they would be the best of friends. He'd never had a best friend before, sure he had a couple of friends and knew some other witches and wizards but apart from his family he never saw any one enough for them to be considered his best friend.

As for Harry and Hermione, they'd never had a proper friend, let alone a best friend, this was a whole new experience for them and there was no way they were letting it go to waste.

"It doesn't matter if we're not," Hermione reassured them, "We can still hang out if we're in different houses."

"Of course we can," Ron said excitedly, taking a hold of their hands and pulling them up the steps that lead to the entrance hall. When they entered the massive door leading into the hall they were overwhelmed with the noise coming from other excited first years as they waited to be taken into the great hall for the sorting.

The noise suddenly stopped when a blonde boy, followed by five others, approached Harry, Hermione and Ron.

"Hi, I'm Draco. Draco Malfoy," He introduced, holding his hand out towards Harry, who took it gladly and smiled at Draco.

"I'm Harry," He replied, "This is Ron and Hermione." He said, gesturing towards them.

"Malfoy," Ron grunted in response, not bothering to offer his hand.

"Weasley," Draco nodded in acknowledgement, not bothering to offer his hand either.

"Hi," Hermione said timidly, giving each of them wave.

"This is Crabbe, Goyle, Blaise, Pansy and Theo," Draco said, ignoring Hermione and motioning towards the people standing behind him. Hermiones gaze swept over each one of them until it landed on Theo, unlike the others he gave her a sweet smile before returning to the emotionless mask he had on before.

"Nice to meet you but we're going to go stand over there where people appreciate my friends and aren't so rude," Harry told them, nodding at Theo politely before giving the rest of them a sickeningly sweet smile.

A little pissed that Draco had just dismissed Hermione so rudely Ron shoved Draco as they walked past.

"Watch it Weasel, I don't want my robes dirtied with the likes of you and your little mudblood," Draco sneered at him, walking to the other side of the entrance hall before Ron could leap on him in a rage.

"How dare he," Ron spat, glaring at Draco with anger in his eyes.

"Ron, just ignore him," Hermione said, placing a hand on his shoulder to calm him down.

"Did you not hear what he said about you though Hermione?" Ron asked her.

"Yes Ron I did," Hermione informed him, flicking a fake speck of dirt from her robes.

"Do you know what that means?" He asked, obviously confused at the way she reacted.

"Of course I do, I read it in a book I got from Diagon Alley. It means dirty blood, but I don't care what he thinks of me, I don't need his approval. Plus, as far as we know I could be a half-blood or even a pureblood," Hermione told him. Ron visibly sagged but the fire in his eyes was still prominent.

"You really don't mind?" Ron asked, stunned at her response and maturity.

"Why should I? The only people who's opinions I care about are both of yours," Hermione reminded them, looping her arms into theirs.

"You may not like it but if I hear him call you that again then It won't be pretty," Ron said in a serious tone.

"Same here," Harry told her, reaching up to squeeze her hand reassuringly.

"Thanks guys but it'll be alright, you don't need to stick up for me," Hermione told them, not wanting them to think she was weak and couldn't look after herself, because she could.

"Whatever you want Hermione," Harry said, giving Ron a pointed look that Hermione didn't miss.

"You boys are ridiculous," She sighed, rolling her eyes in exasperation. Before any more could be said the doors to the great hall swung open and a tall women, with greying hair tied into a tight bun at the top of her head and dressed in deep green robes stepped in front of the first years and looked at each of them as she began to talk.

"Good Evening Students, I'm Professor McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor and -" McGonagall began but froze when her eyes landed on Hermione. All heads turned to where McGonagall was now staring and kept looking between the Professor and Hermione.

McGonagall didn't know what to do, her mind had gone into a state of panic. This girl was a spitting image of Olivia Potter, memories flooded McGonagalls vision. The last time she'd seen Olivia embedded in her thoughts, it couldn't be possible.

Surely if she'd had a daughter I would've known, she wouldn't keep that a secret would she? Perhaps her father was someone she thought we wouldn't approve of, she must've told James and Lily though. There is no doubt that this is Olivias daughter, but who's the father and why didn't she tell me?

"Professor, are you okay?" Hermione asked, worried for McGonagall, who'd now turned pale and was staring at her with blank eyes.

At the sound of Hermiones voice McGonagall snapped out of her day dream and shook her head violently.

"Of course, I'm so sorry. I don't know what came over me," McGonagall apologised to the group, "Anyway, as I was saying before. My names Professor McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor and Deputy Headmistress. The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the great hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house had it's own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. The sorting ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the hall. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you're waiting, I'll be back to collect you when we're ready," McGonagall finished, turning around to leave he students to chatter, but not before stealing one quick glance at Hermione.

Nobody said a word as they all waited for the ceremony to begin, Harry and Hermione were trying relentlessly to flatten their hair, while Ron was tucking his shirt in and poor Neville over in the corner was attempting to get his tie to look right.

"Here, let me help you," Hermione offered, reaching over to take a hold of Nevilles tie and making sure it was tied properly.

"Thank you," Neville stammered nervously, his face bright red.

"No worries," Hermione assured him, "I'm Hermione."

"I'm Neville," He replied, giving her a shy smile before practically jumping out of his skin when the doors to the great hall flew open.

"Follow me," McGonagall ordered them, walking into the hall without waiting for any of them to follow them. The first years lined up in a haste and began following McGonagall down the centre of the great hall.

All of them were staring at the hall in astonishment, eyes were popping and mouths were agape at the candles floating every where, the one thing in particular that took Hermiones breath away was the enchanted ceiling above them.

Once they had reached the end of the hall, they gathered into a group and watched McGonagall as she made her way to a stool.

"Why an earth is there a ratty old hat?" Hermione asked, confused as to what it was doing just sat there on a three-legged stool.

"Maybe it's going to spit something out for us to fight," Ron spluttered, he was so hung up on the stories that Fred and George had told him about the sorting that when the hat moved and a mouth appeared Ron jumped back in fright, and turned red in embarrassment when very one turned to look at him.

"Sorry," He muttered, bright red and turning around to glare daggers at the twins who were sniggering at the Gryffindor table.

The hat suddenly burst out into song and every one listened to it intently, the song went on for at least 2 minutes and by the time it had finished the first years were staring at it in bewilderment while the rest of the hall erupted into a round of applause.

"When I call out your name you will come and sit on the stool and place the sorting hat on your head, it will call out what house you belong to and you'll go and sit on your house table," McGonagall informed them.

"Abbott, Hannah!" McGonagall said.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.

"Bones, Susan!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Boot, Terry!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Brown Lavender!"

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted, McGonagall allowed herself a smile as the first of her new cubs was sorted.

"Bulstrode, Millicent!"

"SLYTHERIN!" The hat shouted, Severus Snape however didn't smile for his first new student like McGonagall did hers. Instead, he was paying too much attention on the glass of butterbeer sat in front of him. He was trying his best to drown out the sounds of the sorting, he couldn't cope with the knowledge that it should be his daughter up there getting sorted, not a bunch of snotty little brats.

"Granger, Hermione," McGonagall called.

Severus heard the name loud and clear and his eyes shot over to the girl in question.

"It can't be," He whispered to himself as Hermione made her way up to the sorting hat, twiddling her thumbs nervously. He couldn't believe his eyes, it was her. It was his Hermione. His little girl. He was struggling to hold back the urge to go and sweep her into his arms, she was the spitting image of Olivia, except for her eyes, her eyes were all him.

As Hermione sat herself on the stool Severus couldn't help but smile, he never thought he'd see the day that his little girl would get sorted at Hogwarts. He just wished that Olivia could be here to share the moment with him.

Hermione could feel herself shaking as the hat was placed on her head, she didn't know what to expect but it definitely wasn't what she was expecting.

"Hmm, Hermione Sn - Granger," The hat said pensively in her ear, "You're a very determined individual I see, you're searching for your parents?"

"Yes," Hermione replied, thinking it wonderful that she was having a conversation with a hat of all things.

"You must be finding this unusual Miss Granger," The hat said in what Hermione could only presume was humour, "You're just like your mother but there is definitely some of your father in you, I can feel your ambition and resourcefulness, but the courage and determination you have vastly out ways those traits. You have the capability to do the impossible, your mind is nearly as advanced as most witches and wizards already. You'd do good in Slytherin Miss Granger, but you'd thrive in Gryffindor. I have made my decision," The hat finished.

"Thank you," Hermione muttered. She could've sworn she felt the hat blanch at her gratitude.

Perhaps nobody has ever thanked him before, Hermione thought to herself, believing it to be a terribly sad thing if she was the first to show him any kind of gratitude for his services.

"GRYFFINDOR," The hat shouted amongst the crowd. Hermione smiled and jumped off the stool in delight before skipping over to the Gryffindor table where she was greeted by her fellow house mates.

Severus watched as he made her way over to the Gryffindor table, trying to hide the smile that had erupted on his face. He noticed a locket hanging out of her robes and in that instant he was 100% certain that this was his Hermione.

He'd given her that necklace for her 1st birthday, inside was the song Olivia used to sing to her every night to get her to sleep.

"Just like her mother," He whispered to himself, tears welling up in his eyes before he quickly composed himself and shook his head violently to stop the tears becoming noticeable. He watched her as she was greeted by all the students and then his head turned to the next student approaching the hat.

"Potter, Harry," McGonagall called, giving Harry a reassuring smile as whispers erupted in the hall at his name. Severus couldn't help but think about how much he looked liked James, he remembered the night Olivia had tried to rescue him from the Dursleys, only for them to lose him again the very next day.

Harry made his way to the stool, the last thing he saw before the hat dropped over his eyes was Hermione giving him a thumbs up over at the Gryffindor table.

"Hmm," said a small voice in his ear. "Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There's talent, oh my goodness, yes - and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting ... so where shall I put you?"

Harry gripped the edges of the stool and thought, 'Please put me with my friends,'

"Miss Granger and Mr Weasley, eh?" said the hat, "Very well, GRYFFINDOR." The hat shouted, the hall burst into a round of applause.

"We got Potter, we got Potter," Fred and George chanted, sending Harry a wink as he walked over to the Gryffindor table.

"Harry!" Hermione squealed, as he sat down next to her.

"Hey 'Mione," Harry replied ecstatically, glad he'd be with his friends.

"'Mione?" She asked.

"Yeah, it just sort of slipped, you don't mind though do you?" Harry asked hopefully, he secretly thought Hermione was a bit of a mouthful and was relieved he'd be allowed to call her by that nickname.

"No, I like it," She replied, ignoring the little niggling in the back of her head that told her she'd been called that before.

"Come on Ronnikins," Fred suddenly shouted, clapping his hands as Ron made his way up to the sorting hat.

"Poor Ron, he's as pale as a ghost," Hermione said to Harry, who simply nodded and prayed that Ron would get sorted with them.

"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat shouted, Harry sagged in relief.

"Way to go Ronnikins," George and Fred hollered at him as he made his way over to the Gryffindor table.

"Stop calling me that!" Ron shouted at them as he sat down, his face as bright as a tomato.

"Why would we do that little brother?" Fred asked innocently.

"It's the highlight of our day!" George admitted, slapping Ron on the back before turning around to talk to Angelina Johnson and Katie Bell.

"Bloody prats," Ron muttered under his breath, causing Harry and Hermione to giggle.

"We're all together!" Hermione said excitedly, gathering them in a hug. When she let them go Ron immediately brightened up. One, his new best friends were in the same house as him and two, the food had just appeared.

Harry looked over at the staff table, he noticed a man with greasy black hair, a hooked noise and sallow skin talking to Professor Quirrell.

All of a sudden they both looked at him and a hot pain shot across the scar on Harrys head.

"Who's that talking to Professor Quirrell?" Harry asked, clutching his scar.

"That's Professor Snape." Fred told him.

"You have to watch out for him," George said.

"He's a slimy old git that one," said Fred.

"Gave me and Fred at least a hundred detentions last year," George admitted as if it was the most unbelievable thing in the world.

"He teaches potions, but he doesn't want to," Fred told them matter of factly.

"Everyone knows he's after Quirrells job." George said.

"Knows an awful lot about the Dark Arts for a teacher," Fred said.

"What are you three on about?" Hermione asked, turning her attention away from Ron, who was stuffing his face next to her.

"Professor Snape," Harry told her, motioning over to him at the staff table.

Hermione looked over to see what they were on about when her eyes connected with Professor Snapes.

She froze as she looked into his eyes. No, her eyes.

All of a sudden, Hermione felt extremely dizzy and before she knew it she was falling off the bench and into darkness.

* * *

 _ **Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. A review would be appreciated, but obviously not necessary. Just let me know what you thought of the chapter, what you hope will happen in the future and if I could improve on anything :)**_


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you to those who reviewed my last chapter, it really means a lot. Here's Chapter Two, I hope you enjoy it :)**

* * *

 _*Last Time*_

 _"Granger, Hermione," McGonagall called._

 _Severus heard the name loud and clear and his eyes shot over to the girl in question._

 _"It can't be," He whispered to himself as Hermione made her way up to the sorting hat, twiddling her thumbs nervously. He couldn't believe his eyes, it was her. It was his Hermione. His little girl. He was struggling to hold back the urge to go and sweep her into his arms, she was the spitting image of Olivia, except for her eyes, her eyes were all him._

 _As Hermione sat herself on the stool Severus couldn't help but smile, he never thought he'd see the day that his little girl would get sorted at Hogwarts. He just wished that Olivia could be here to share the moment with him._

 _..._

 _"GRYFFINDOR," The hat shouted amongst the crowd. Hermione smiled and jumped off the stool in delight before skipping over to the Gryffindor table where she was greeted by her fellow house mates._

 _Severus watched as he made her way over to the Gryffindor table, trying to hide the smile that had erupted on his face. He noticed a locket hanging out of her robes and in that instant he was 100% certain that this was his Hermione._

 _He'd given her that necklace for her 1st birthday, inside was the song Olivia used to sing to her every night to get her to sleep._

 _"Just like her mother," He whispered to himself, tears welling up in his eyes before he quickly composed himself and shook his head violently to stop the tears becoming noticeable._

 _..._

 _"What are you three on about?" Hermione asked, turning her attention away from Ron (who was stuffing his face) and facing the three of them._

 _"Professor Snape," Harry told her, motioning over to him at the staff table._

 _Hermione looked over to see what they were on about when her eyes connected with Professor Snapes._

 _She froze as she looked into his eyes. No, her eyes._

 _All of a sudden, Hermione felt extremely dizzy and before she knew it she was falling off the bench and into darkness._

 **Chapter Three**

 _Hermione watched as her parents leaned over her cot and smiled down at her._

 _"She's so beautiful," Her mother said, stroking Hermiones hair out of her face._

 _"She looks just like you," Her father commented, "The two most beautiful maidens in the land," He chuckled, placing a chaste kiss on her mothers lips. Hermiones mother laughed at his use of language before staring back down at her daughter._

 _"We did good, didn't we," She said, never taking her eyes off Hermiones little form._

 _"We sure did," Her father agreed, "She's our special little ray of sunshine, our special little Hermione."_

 _..._

 _"Sev, did you see that?" Hermiones mother bellowed, jumping up and down for joy._

 _"See what?" Her father replied, looking at his wife in amusement._

 _"She did magic, our little girl did magic!" She wailed, picking Hermione up and doing a little jig with her._

 _Hermione watched as her father laughed at their antics before taking Hermione into his own arms and squeezing her into a tight hug._

 _"Well done poppet," He praised, "You're going to be the brightest witch Hogwarts has ever seen, mark my words."_

 _..._

 _"Hey Poppet," Her father greeted, lifting her out of her cot and placing a kiss on her cheek, "Did you sleep well?"_

 _"Es," Hermione replied, trying her best to speak like she knew her mother and father could._

 _"Good," He said, "Do you know what day it is?"_

 _"No," Hermione said._

 _"It's your birthday," He said excitedly._

 _"Burday?" Hermione said in bemusement, trying to figure out what her father was on about._

 _"Bir-th-day," He sounded out._

 _"Burd day," Hermione sounded out, trying to sound like her father._

 _"That was better poppet," He told her._

 _"Daddy, what a burd day?" Hermione asked._

 _"It means you are 2 years old today and that you get to have presents and a cake," He explained._

 _"How old daddy?" Hermione asked._

 _"Much older than you," He chuckled, "I have a present for you." He held a box out in front of Hermione, who grabbed at it eagerly, only to have it moved away._

 _"Can I see?" Hermione asked._

 _"What's the magic word?" Her father replied._

 _"Pwease?" Hermione said, looking up at her father pleading._

 _"Here you go," He responded, handing her the little box. Hermione tried her hardest to open it but her chubby little fingers couldn't get under the lid._

 _"Daddy help?" Hermione asked, he raised an eyebrow at her questioningly, "pwease?"_

 _"Here you go," He said as he handed the box back to his daughter. Hermiones eyes widened as she looked at the locket in the box._

 _"It pwitty," Hermione said._

 _"Do you want me to open it?" Her father asked, reaching out to take the locket out._

 _"Es," Hermione replied, watching as her father opened the locket and a song played from it. Hermiones smile brightened as she heard the tune coming from it, "That Mummy song," She giggled._

 _"Yes it is, You can listen to it whenever you want. Promise me you won't lose it," Her father asked, placing the locket around her neck and charming it so it wouldn't fall off._

 _"Pwomise Daddy," Hermione said, reaching up to grab one of his finger._

 _"I love you poppet," He told her._

 _"Love you Daddy."_

 _..._

 _"Hey there poppet," Hermiones father said, greeting his daughter softly, placing a light kiss onto her forehead. She giggled in joy and reached out her hands towards him._

 _"Daddy," She gurgled, he took her out of her mothers arm and snuggled her close._

 _..._

"What happened?" Hermione asked, rubbing her eyes wearily.

"You fainted," A voice said from her left.

"Fainted?" Hermione asked, pushing herself up into a sitting position, groaning when she felt her head spin and the room start to go fuzzy around her.

"Lie back down poppet," A calming voice said, as they rested a hand on her shoulder and gently pushed her back down onto the bed.

Hermione complied and lay back down on the bed, she waited for her eyes to focus and then looked around for the owner of the voice. Her breath hitched when she locked eyes with the person in question.

"Daddy?" Hermione whispered, a rapid flow of tears beginning to pour down her face. In a flurry she jumped of the bed and flung herself into Severus' arms, ignoring her pounding headache and dizziness.

Severus couldn't contain the tears as he gathered his daughter up in his arms for the first time in 10 years.

They sat in each others arms for a while, Severus rubbing her back soothingly while Hermione sobbed into his chest and clung onto him like he could disappear at any second.

"I missed you Hermione," Severus told her, wiping his tears as he carried her over to the bed and lay her back down, never taking his hand out of hers as he sat down in the chair to the left of the bed.

"I missed you too Daddy," Hermione whispered, smiling when Severus wiped away the tears from her cheeks and kissed her lightly on the forehead.

"What happened to you poppet?" Severus asked, Hermione looked at him in confusement for a minute.

 _Why would he want to talk about her life in the hospital wing? Surely he wanted somewhere more private._ She thought to herself.

"Hermione?" Severus asked concerned, she'd just been staring at him for the past minute, "Why did you faint?"

Hermione clicked out of her thoughts at his comment, he only wanted to talk about her episode in the great hall at the moment. Honestly, she was rather relieved, she needed to mentally prepare herself for the story of her life and now was definitely not the time for that sort of conversation.

"I - I remember all these memories, it was like they were ... I don't know, flooding maybe, is that the right word? Yeah. Flooding my brain, it was like all the memories I had of you were blocked but when I made eye contact with you they all came flooding back, it's as if they were trapped inside my own mind, then I just fainted," Hermione rambled, not being able to find the words to describe the sensation she just felt.

"is that possible?" She asked, staring up at her father questionably.

"Oh Marls, you amazing woman," Severus whispered sadly.

"Who's Marls?" Hermione asked.

"Marlene Mckinnon," Severus told her, "She was one of your mothers best friends, the night she was robbed of her life was the night I lost you and your mother. It seems Marls cast a triggered obliviate on you."

"Triggered obliviate?" Hermione asked, "From what I've read an obliviate, also known as a Forgetfulness Charm, it is a spell that is used to erase memories from an individual's mind. However, it is the only known charm that removes ones memories permanently unless broken through the use of torture, which will effectively cause brain damage and long term memory loss."

Severus watched as Hermione - who had grown up around muggles and knew nothing about magic until a couple of weeks prior - talked about the obliviate charm as if she'd known what it was her whole life.

"None of the books I've read so far has mentioned that memories from an obliviate could be triggered and returned to the owner, so how is it possible that I have mine back but you claim that Marlene McKinnon obliviated me?" Hermione asked, before she went back over the information she'd just shared and widened her eyes in shock, "You didn't!" She gasped.

"We did," Severus told her, smiling at her ability to retain knowledge and figure our problems quickly.

"You made a new obliviate?" She spluttered, "people have been trying to do that for centuries but even the most powerful of wizards have failed, how did you do it?" Hermione asked, staring at her father in anticipation for his answer.

"It wasn't me," Severus admitted.

"It wasn't you? Who was it then?" Hermione asked.

"Your mum," He admitted.

"Mum made that spell," Hermione said in awe.

"She did," Severus confirmed, "she spent almost a year on that spell and when she completed it she shared it with our close friends in case of an emergency, not only that but your mother and myself have cast a spell on ourselves that allow us to break through any obliviate cast on us," Severus told her, his heart melting as he saw the admiration in his daughters eyes.

"How an earth did you manage that? Will you teach it to me?" asked Hermione.

"Olivia is the brightest witch in three centuries, I don't believe there isn't anything she couldn't do. Of course I will poppet, maybe not for a couple of years, but I will." He told her.

"Really? Mum sounds wicked," Hermione said joyfully, smiling at the fact that she know knew her mums name.

She watched on as her dad hung his head and looked at the floor, his eyes sad and lips pursed into a thin line.

"Daddy?" Hermione said softly squeezing Severus' hand in her own.

"Sorry poppet," He replied, squeezing her hand back and looking up to meet her eyes.

"What happened to mum?" Hermione muttered quietly.

"She -"

Before Severus could explain the sound of the hospital wing doors slamming open interrupted him, quickly he jumped up from his seat and bent down to whisper in Hermiones ear.

"We'll speak later, I have to go but before I do I need to tell you that Dumbledore is not to be trusted."

Hermione nodded and smiled when her dad kissed her softly on the forehead before sneaking off into the shadows.

Just as he disappeared two figures came wondering towards her bed, she watched as Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall made there way to the end of her bed and stood before her.

"Hello Miss Granger," Dumbledore greeted her, his eyes twinkling annoyingly beneath his glasses.

"Headmaster," Hermione said curtly, nodding her head at the Headmaster.

"How are you feeling my girl?" He asked.

"I feel fine Sir, I'm still a little dizzy but that's to be expected," She replied

"Good, good," He chirped, "Would you be able to tell us why you fainted Miss Granger?"

Hermione wanted to gag at the old mans constant happiness, she could see why her father told her not to trust him. Just from this short encounter she could tell he was untrustworthy.

His friendly grandfather persona didn't fool her, the twinkling he constantly had in his eyes was the effect of a charm known as _'ictu oculi'_ which translated to the phrase 'twinkling eyes' in English.

The charm wasn't well known but Hermione had bought almost every book available in Diagon Alley and knew each and everyone of them almost by heart.

His mannerisms were also too exaggerated and forced, which indicated that he didn't really mean them and, in this case, was only displaying those certain mannerisms because he was trying to earn Hermiones trust.

 _Well_ , Hermione thought, _Two can play that game_

Out of the corner of her eye Hermione saw McGonagall staring at her and a small smile grace her lips, she turned her head to face her head of house and smiled back at her, it was as if she knew what she was up to.

"Of course I can sir," Hermione stated sweetly, "As you know I'm muggleborn and as I was sat there after the sorting ceremony I came to the sudden realisation that this was all in fact real and not some wonderful dream, I guess I just got a bit overwhelmed at the prospect of me actually being able to do magic, I'm sorry if I caused a scene sir, I didn't mean to," Hermione apologised whole heartedly - or so Dumbledore thought.

 _She's good_ , McGonagall thought as she watched the girl play Albus Dumbledore so easily.

Luckily for McGonagall she was almost positive that this child was Olivias and if any one knew Olivia then it was her. She could tell by the little flare of Hermiones nostrils that she wasn't telling the truth.

"There's no need to apologise my girl, It happens every now and then, nothing to be ashamed about. I'm glad you're feeling better but me and Professor McGonagall best be off, I look forward to talking to you again Miss Granger," Dumbledore replied, walking away with a smug expression on his face. He really did think that he had just earnt the trust of another viable student to use for his cause.

Professor McGonagall, however, knew better.

"Good evening Miss Granger," McGonagall said to Hermione, winking at her as she walked behind Dumbledore and out of the hospital wing, flicking her wand carelessly to close the doors behind her.

Hermione watched as they retreated out of the Hospital wing and when they were gone she closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

As she fell into unconsciousness the only thought on her mind was how she was going to find out her her mother really was, at least this time she had a lead.

Her mum was called Olivia.

Nothing was going to stop her.

Tomorrow she was going to find out who her mother was.

* * *

 _ **Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. Reviews are appreciated, thanks :)**_


	4. Chapter 4

**XxThe-Crest-Of-AnubisxX:** _As stated in previous chapters, Sirius is in Azkaban - just like canon - but Olivia is also with him as well. Remus will be introduced in later chapters, but not until second or third year._

 **Thank you to those who reviewed my last chapter, it really means a lot. Here's Chapter Four, I hope you enjoy it :)**

* * *

 _*Last Time*_

 _"Daddy?" Hermione whispered, a rapid flow of tears beginning to pour down her face. In a flurry she jumped of the bed and flung herself into Severus' arms, ignoring her pounding headache and dizziness._

 _Severus couldn't contain the tears as he gathered his daughter up in his arms for the first time in 10 years._

 _They sat in each others arms for a while, Severus rubbing her back soothingly while Hermione sobbed into his chest and clung onto him like he could disappear at any second._

 _"I missed you Hermione," Severus told her, wiping his tears as he carried her over to the bed and lay her back down, never taking his hand out of hers as he sat down in the chair to the left of the bed._

 _"I missed you too Daddy," Hermione whispered, smiling when Severus wiped away the tears from her cheeks and kissed her lightly on the forehead._

 _..._

 _"Good evening Miss Granger," McGonagall said to Hermione, winking at her as she walked behind Dumbledore and out of the hospital wing, flicking her wand carelessly to close the doors behind her._

 _Hermione watched as they retreated out of the Hospital wing and when they were gone she closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep._

 _As she fell into unconsciousness the only thought on her mind was how she was going to find out who her mother really was, at least this time she had a lead._

 _Her mum was called Olivia._

 _Nothing was going to stop her._

 _Tomorrow she was going to find out who her mother was._

 **Chapter Four**

Hermione had to stay in the the hospital wing until the following day and wasn't let out until lunch time the next. She'd missed potions with her father in the morning but from what she'd heard so far it seemed that not very many people actually liked him - or his class - very much.

"Mione, over here," Harry called from the opposite end of the Gryffindor table. Hermione had just entered through the double doors when Harry called her.

As she made her way over towards Harry she glanced up at the teachers table to see her father looking down on her, he gave her a quick smile before returning his attention to his food, his mouth set into a scowl once again.

Hermione smiled sadly, she reckoned that this was what it was going to be like in public from now on. From what she'd gathered, her father had a reputation at Hogwarts for being the mean, greasy, dungeons bat and she didn't think that reuniting with his daughter was going to change that; although a piece of her wished it would.

"Hey Harry," Hermione said chirpily as she plopped herself down next to Harry, "Where's Ron?" She asked, glancing around for a head of ginger hair. She caught sight of Fred and George, who were currently torturing Percy with a piece of ham - he was vegetarian - and she also saw Neville sat awkwardly on his own a few seats down.

"He's just on his way, should be down in a minute, how are you feeling?" asked Harry, looking Hermione up and down to make sure she didn't have any obvious injuries still.

"Much better," Hermione reassured him, smiling at him and placing her finger under his chin to lift his head up so their eyes were at the same level.

"You sure?" He asked, he felt as if he'd known Hermione his whole life and he couldn't help but worry about her, he felt a strong protective urge towards her and if he was being honest then he'd felt like this as soon as their eyes met on the train.

"Certain," Hermione told him, smiling at him to assure him she was being truthful. The two of them went back to filling up their plates and awaited for Ron to make his way to lunch.

Hermione began giggled as she looked towards the door, Harry looked at her oddly before following her eyes to the sight of Ron running through the doors, his shirt half tucked in and tie hanging loosely around his neck. As he caught sight of them he waved and a stupid grin spread itself across his face before face planting the floor after tripping over his robe.

"Hey guys," Ron said, red with embarrassment, as he ran towards them and sat opposite the two of them, he quickly began filling his plate up and looked up at the laughing faces of Harry and Hermione.

"It's not funny," Ron mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"Sorry Ron," Hermione apologised, before looking at Harry again and bursting into laughter once more.

"Sorry my arse," He muttered, reaching over to take a handful of crisps from a bowl to his left.

Harry and Hermione eventually calmed themselves down and were now reaching to take more food and filling up their cups with pumpkin juice.

"Miss Granger," a voice said from behind her, she looked over to see Professor McGonagall leaning over her.

"Hello Professor, is everything all right?" Hermione asked, wondering why McGonagall was over here.

"I have your time table, because of your incident last night you didn't receive it," She informed her, handing the piece of paper to Hermione, who took it gratefully.

"Thank you Professor," Hermione said, watching as McGonagall turned around.

"Oh and 5 points from Gryffindor Mr Weasley, tardiness is not tolerated in my house," She said sternly over her shoulder, before flouncing back over to the teachers table, ignoring the sniggers coming from the Slytherin table at her comment.

"Tardiness?" Ron shrieked when McGonagall was out of hearing range.

"Your tie Ron," Harry pointed out, trying his best not to laugh when Ron huffed at the ridiculousness of it all while muttering about bloody ties. Hermione watched the boys in amusement and as she lent across the table to get some sausage rolls she caught sight of Neville again, he really did look lonely.

"Guys, Neville looks a bit lonely, do you mind if he sits with us?" Hermione asked, the boys looked at her anxiously before looking at each other then looking over at Neville.

"He looks okay over there Hermione," Ron said.

"Yeah, he does," Harry agreed.

"You boys are ridiculous," Hermione retorted, standing up from her place on the stool, "I'll just go get him my self if you're going to be silly." with that Hermione stalked off towards Neville and sat herself down next to him.

Her sudden appearance caused Neville to jump in surprise, making him spill his pumpkin juice all over the front of his robes.

"Whoops, sorry Neville," Hermione apologised quickly, cleaning up the mess with a quick scourgify.

"How did you do that?" Neville asked in wonder, staring at Hermione in awe.

"Do what?" She asked, a little perplexed at the sudden question.

"That spell, we don't learn that until third year," He explained, be it a little timidly.

"Oh, I ... um, read it in a book and taught myself," She admitted. She'd found it in a book she was reading in the hospital wing and decided it would be useful so took it upon herself to learn it .

"Well, it was great," Neville complimented her, returning back to his more shy self.

"Thank you," Hermione said sincerely," we were wondering if you wanted to come and sit with us," She said, motioning towards Ron and Harry who waved sheepishly at Neville.

"Oh, it's fine. I don't want to be a bother," Neville told her, looking down at his hands as he twiddled his thumbs nervously.

"Don't be silly Neville, we'd love for you to come and sit with us," Hermione insisted, when Neville didn't say anything in return she huffed and pulled him up herself.

"Come on, we're not going to bite," She joked, praising herself when a small smile graced his lips.

"Okay," He muttered, following Hermione over to Ron and Harry.

"Hi Neville," They both replied, concentrating on their meals as he sat down.

"Hello," He replied. He looked between the three of them before staring at Harry and then back at Hermione.

"Is something wrong Neville?" Harry asked, a little put of that he kept staring at him.

"No, no. It's just that you and Hermione look quite similar," He told them. Harry and Hermione looked at each other while Ron looked up from his plate to assess the two of them.

"Bloody hell, he's right. You do look similar," Ron agreed, leaning in closer to examine the two of them at a shorter distance.

"No we don't."

"Don't be ridiculous Ron."

Harry and Hermione exclaimed together, looking away from each other and shuffling their bags onto their shoulders before declaring that it was time to go to charms.

...

"I'll catch up later," Hermione called to Ron and Harry as they left the charms classroom after a double period.

"See you later 'Mione," Harry called back while Ron muttered a quick bye before leaving with Harry to dinner.

Hermione made her way to the library in a hurry, she really needed to get a move on if she didn't want to miss out on some dinner. On her way there she began thinking about all the information she currently had on her mum.

So far she knew that her name was Olivia, if she could hazard a guess then Hermione would say that she would be in the same year as her dad but that wasn't a definite yet. She also knew that her mum was a Gryffindor and that she had piercing blue eyes and dark skin. She hoped it wouldn't be too hard to find her, she had enough information ... right?

As Hermione walked into the library she noticed that there wasn't many people around, they were probably all at dinner.

"Can I help you dear?" An old woman asked, as Hermione made her way to the front desk.

"Yes, please. Could you tell me where the school year books are kept?" Hermione asked politely.

"Of course dear, if you just follow me," The lady replied.

Hermione followed until the lady - that Hermione assumed to be the librarian - walked into an aisle and pulled out a massive stack of books.

"Here you go," She announced placing the books on a table before returning back to her chair at the front desk.

Hermione looked at the stack in front of her and mentally calculated what year her father and hopefully mother graduated from Hogwarts.

"1978, 1978, 1978," She muttered as she ruffled through the stack of books.

"Ah, here you are," She said triumphantly as she pulled a book out of the stack. The front was brown and embellished on the top was 'class of 1978' with the Hogwarts crest nestled above it. Hermione opened the book and scanned the pages for someone called Olivia, she noticed Harrys mum in there and stopped to stare at the woman for a second before continuing on her search.

She hadn't found anyone by the name of Olivia by the time she made it onto James Potters page, Harry really did look very much like his father, she couldn't believe the resemblance between the two of them. She quickly scanned the his page and was surprised to find that he had a twin sister in the same house. Unfortunately, it didn't mention her name but specified that her information was on the next page. Hermione was intrigued because as far as she was aware Harry didn't know that he had an aunt on his fathers side. Intrigued Hermione turned the page before dropping the book unceremoniously onto the table in front of her.

There on the page was none other than the name Olivia Potter, Hermione couldn't believe it. Her mum was James sister which made her Harrys aunt. That meant that her and Harry were cousins.

"Are you alright dear? I heard a noise," Madam Pince asked, popping her head around the corner.

"Yes, I just dropped a book. Sorry about that," Hermione apologised, picking the book up in her hands.

"Are you sure? You look a bit pale," Madam Pince replied.

"Honestly, I'm fine," Hermione insisted, waiting until Madam Pince was out of sight to look at the open page again. She stared at the picture of her mum, transfixed on her features. It kind of all made sense now, she supposed that her and Harry did look rather similar in appearance.

Thinking back on lunch earlier today, Hermione realised that they had the same nose and jaw line. Both of them had messy hair and were relatively short for their age. This must've been why they felt a familiar connection when they met on the train.

As Hermione read the information on the page she found out that her mum was Quidditch captain from her 5th year, beating her brother in that aspect. She was also a prefect and best friends with Lily Evans, Marlene McKinnon, Dorcas Meadowes and Alice Fawley.

This was the only information on her mother in the year book but one question still remained. What had happened to her mother? Surely if she had died she would've been mentioned in a newspaper of some sort and from the look on her dads face when he tried to talk about her yesterday it seemed to be the most plausible conclusion.

Hermione made her way to the back of the library and it was here that she found a whole section stacked with every Daily Prophet articles ever published since its creation. Hermione made her way along the stacks of newspapers until she came to the section labelled 1981. She thought she would start here because it was the year that Harrys parents had died, so her mum was most likely to be named as one of the mourners for her brother and best friend.

she picked up a stack that was labelled October and began scanning through them. She reached one that recited the events of the 31st October 1981 and felt a tear trickle down her face. Although she didn't remember ever meeting her aunt and uncle, she still felt a twinge of sadness that Harry hadn't had very long with them and that she'd never remember or meet them herself.

After calming down a bit she scanned through some more papers until one in particular caught her attention.

 _ **THE BOY WHO LIVED, FOUND AND POTTER A CRIMINAL?**_

 _ **By Rita Skeeter**_

 _ **Early this morning Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived, was found in McKinnon Manor, where Marlene McKinnon was found dead this morning. The Boy Who Lived was in an upstairs bedroom with a young girl, who's name we have not identified, but is believed to have been connected to the know convicted Olivia Potter.**_

 _ **Late last night Olivia Potter was found in the home of Frank and Alice Longbottom, she was charged with the use of unforgivables on both Mr and Mrs Longbottom, which has landed them both in St Mungos: Spell Damage with insanity from prolonged exposure to the cruciatious curse. Their son, Neville Longbottom, was found in a cupboard in the very room they were tortured in, it is thought that the poor boy was locked in their while he had to endure the screams of his parents.**_

 _ **Albus Dumbledore has taken charge of the two children found in the McKinnon Estate but won't talk to anyone about their wherabouts. For know though, some questions remain. Why did Olivia Potter torture the Longbottoms? And What were those two children doing with the late Marlene McKinnon?**_

Hermione couldn't believe it, she'd talked to Neville just a couple of hours ago and her mother had done this to his parents. She didn't want to believe it but the evidence was right in front of her.

Hermione stood frozen. How could her mum do that? And how could her father not tell her? It felt like she was being torn from the inside out, like all of her organs had turned to jelly.

She felt trapped.

Torn.

She bit her tongue, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to leave her eyes. She'd only known of her father for a not even a day and already she loved him more than anything, she felt betrayed and disgusted. Betrayed because her father hadn't had the decency to inform her that her mother was a criminal and disgusted that she was related to someone who could do such a thing.

First, one small crystal bead escaped from her right eye. She could feel the warmth, sliding down her cheek, and rolling off her chin. Then another. And another. Until her eyes were flooded with them, coming like a rainfall. She had to get away from all of it, away from the newspaper and the evidence of what her mother had done.

In an instant Hermione was racing away, she didn't know where she was going and before she knew it her legs had given out. She collapsed against a massive oak tree that sat by the edge of the black lake. Hermione cried as if her brain was being shredded from the inside.

Emotional pain flowed out of her every pore. From her mouth came a cry so raw that it would even make the eyes of Satan himself wet with tears. Her crying was both ferocious and noisy.

She blinked briny tears from bloodshot eyes, her thick lashes stuck together in clumps as if she'd been swimming. The tears made wet tracks down her face and dripped from her wobbling chin.

The thing that made all of this worse was the fact that even though she knew she shouldn't, she still wanted to meet her mum. She craved to have the real love of a mother, or at least to know that her mother didn't love her so she could at least give up on the hope she held in her heart.

* * *

 _ **Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Reviews are appreciated but obviously not necessary :)**_

 _ **Chapter Question: Who would you like to see Hermione end up with romantically? A boy, girl or no-one? Who should it be?!**_


	5. Chapter 5

**_Here's Chapter five of 'Its a Twin Thing', hope you enjoy :)_**

* * *

 _*Last Time*_

 _Hermione turned the page before dropping the book unceremoniously onto the table in front of her._

 _There on the page was none other than the name Olivia Potter, Hermione couldn't believe it. Her mum was James sister which made her Harrys aunt. That meant that her and Harry were cousins._

 _"Are you alright dear? I heard a noise," Madam Pince asked, popping her head around the corner._

 _"Yes, I just dropped a book. Sorry about that," Hermione apologised, picking the book up in her hands._

 _"Are you sure? You look a bit pale," Madam Pince replied._

 _"Honestly, I'm fine," Hermione insisted, waiting until Madam Pince was out of sight to look at the open page again. She stared at the picture of her mum, transfixed on her features. It kind of all made sense now, she supposed that her and Harry did look rather similar in appearance._

 _Thinking back on lunch earlier today, Hermione realised that they had the same nose and jaw line. Both of them had messy hair and were relatively short for there age. This must've been why they felt a familiar connection when they met on the train._

 _..._

 _ **By Rita Skeeter**_

 _ **Early this morning Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived, was found in McKinnon Manor, where Marlene McKinnon was found dead this morning. The Boy Who Lived was in an upstairs bedroom with a young girl, who's name we have identified as Hermione, who is thought to be the daughter of recently convicted Olivia Potter.**_

 _ **Late last night Olivia Potter was found in the home of Frank and Alice Longbottom, she was charged with the use of unforgivables on both Mr and Mrs Longbottom, which has landed them both in St Mungos: Spell Damage with insanity from prolonged experience with the cruciatious curse. Their son, Neville Longbottom, was found in a cupboard in the very room they were tortured in, it is thought that the poor boy was locked in their while he had to endure the screams of his parents.**_

 _ **Albus Dumbledore has taken charge of the two children found in the McKinnon Estate but won't talk to anyone about their wherabouts. For know though, some questions remain. Why did Olivia Potter torture the Longbottoms? Who is the father of Miss Potters daughter? And What were those two children doing with the late Marlene McKinnon?**_

 _Hermione couldn't believe it, she'd talked to Neville just a couple of hours ago and her mother had done this to his parents. She didn't want to believe it but the evidence was right in front of her._

 _Hermione stood frozen. How could her mum do that? And how could her father not tell her? It felt like she was being torn from the inside out, like all of her organs had turned to jelly._

 _She felt trapped._

 _Torn._

 **Chapter Five**

Hermione had returned that night to her dorm and found Harry and Ron waiting up for her, she chuckled as she noticed that they had fallen asleep and quickly woke them up to tell them that it was time for them to go up to their dorm room.

She'd managed to avoid any questions that night and, luckily, the boys hadn't asked her the next day.

It had been two months since that night and Hermione had been ignoring her father ever since then, at first she was upset that he hadn't told her any thing but now that she'd had time to reflect on it she realised that she didn't need to be upset, instead she focused all of her sadness into anger. Granted, she still got lethargic on occasions and she knew that she wasn't eating properly but the worst part of it all was when she had time to think. She couldn't sleep because every thing would just flood into her brain the minute she stopped to go to sleep.

It was driving her crazy.

Today was the 31st October. The day that Harrys parents had died. The day that her aunt and uncle died. Hermione knew how Harry was feeling so let him be that morning, she herself was mourning but not as much as Harry seemed to be. She could tell that he was trying to keep it all in and not let anyone see how much he was really hurting but Hermione could tell better.

He was devastated, she could see it in his eyes and the way he moved. She couldn't do anything to help him so left him alone to be with his thoughts and feelings.

Her day wasn't going to well so far and the thing that made it even worse was the looming shadow approaching her in the hall way, when she finally realised who it was she tried to turn around and escape the figure but she knew that it was too late.

"Hermione," Severus called, picking up his pace so that he could try and talk to his daughter.

"Stop trying to talk to me," Hermione told him calmly, trying to reign in his anger.

"Why? I'm your father, I'll always want to talk to you, you've completely ignored me for almost 2 months and I accepted that because I thought you needed some time to process every thing that has happened to you since finding out you were a witch and about me but now it's getting ridiculous," Severus retorted, his face not reflecting his true emotions but Hermione could see the sadness in his eyes, she tried to bite back the regret she felt in her stomach.

 _He doesn't deserve your pity, stop feeling regretful_ , she mentally scolded herself.

"You're not my father, my father wouldn't lie to me, my father wouldn't betray me the way you've betrayed me," Hermione hissed, trying her best to not burst out into tears at the thought of what he'd hidden from her.

Hermione couldn't miss the hurt that crossed her fathers face and instantly regretted her words, she didn't want to hurt him. She still loved him but right now her anger and grief were overshadowing her love and it felt like they were the only two emotions she could feel ever since she discovered the truth about her mother.

"Don't say that poppet," Severus choked, trying not to show how crushed he was at her declaration. Although he could see that she regretted it straight afterwards, it still hurt.

"Why not? How about you tell me the truth about Olivia?" Hermione snapped, wanting to see if her father would tell her the truth or lie to her once again.

"She's your mother, don't call her Olivia. Your mum," He said, stressing the word mum, "Is an amazing woman and you will not go around being disrespectful to her," Severus told her, trying to keep his anger under wrap.

"That's it? That's all your going to tell me? How about the fact that her last name was Potter, or that she tortured the Longbottoms? How about the fact that she is nothing but a good for nothing criminal who cost Neville his parents, or that she is now in Azkaban for life?" Hermione screamed at him, her voice getting louder and louder as she pointed out all the things that Severus had been lying to her about.

"It's not what you think," Severus replied quietly, knowing that Hermione had the wrong idea in her head but not wanting to shout at her for the insinuation.

"STOP LYING TO ME!" Hermione screamed, fed up of all the lies and just wanting her father to be truthful. The tears she'd been trying to hold back since she began talking to him dripped unwillingly down her face.

"Hermione, please calm down. It's not like that, I haven't lied," Severus pleaded with her, he could feel his heart tearing at her tears. He didn't want his little girl to be upset, especially when it was his fault.

"WELL YOU HAVEN'T TOLD THE TRUTH HAVE YOU? HOW COULD YOU DO THIS? I ONLY JUST REALISED TWO MONTHS AGO THAT MY REAL DAD WAS ALIVE AND I WAS SO EXCITED TO MEET MUM BUT NOW I'M NEVER GOING TO SEE HER BECAUSE SHE'S A BLOODY CRIMINAL! HOW AM I EVER GOING TO LOOK NEVILLE IN THE EYE AGAIN, KNOWING THAT HE WAS COST A CHILDHOOD WITH HIS PARENTS BECAUSE OF MY MOTHER ... do you know how this has been affecting me that last couple of months?" Hermione finished weakly, the fight leaving her eyes. All she wanted to do now was curl up into a ball and cry her eyes out, she was done with this.

Severus knew what this was doing to her, he'd watched as she slowly went of her meals over the last couple of months, he could see how thin she'd gotten in this time and how the fire in her eyes slowly faded as she allowed her anger and sadness to simmer. At first he thought it was just all the new information about her parentage but after a while he realised that it was something else, it was only today that he'd mustered up the courage to actually confront her.

He knew it was silly, being afraid of your daughter but in all honesty he was new to the whole father thing. Sure, he'd been a dad since she was born but he's never had to deal with her temper tantrums and he didn't really know her that much at all, he didn't know how she coped with her feelings, if she liked to be left alone or if she liked talking about it. He really had no idea what to do with an 11 year old daughter, especially an 11 year old daughter with the personality of Olivia. Olivia scared the shit out of him and he was certain Hermione would be just the same as her mother.

No only that, though. He was scared of losing her again. He'd already lost Olivia and he thought he'd lost Hermione too, he didn't want to go back to the place he was in before she arrived at Hogwarts because that was a horrible place to be.

"I'm sorry Hermione, I know how you feel but ..." Severus began gravely, not wanting to cause his daughter any more irrelevant pain by his hand.

"No daddy, you don't know," Hermione whispered dejectedly, turning around and running away from Severus, who was left to watch as his daughter ran away, tears streaming down her face. The worst part about it was that he knew why she was so devastated, and he also knew that it was his fault for not telling her in the first place. The realisation that he'd done this to her, to his own daughter, was tearing him apart.

...

"Have you seen Hermione?" Harry asked Ron from across the table, they were sitting at the Halloween feast and Dumbledore had just finished his speech, meaning that the food had just appeared on the table and everyone around them were digging in.

"No," Ron replied, spitting food at Harry as he talked. Harry looked over at Ron, who's mouth was full while his plate was heaped with mountains of food and had to suppress a chuckle at his friends gluttony.

"Do you think she's alright? I haven't seen her since this morning," Harry said in concern, he was worried about Hermione and wanted to make sure that she was safe. It wasn't like her to not turn up for dinner, when she'd missed lunch he just assumed that she was in the library and would join them later.

"Dunno, she hasn't really been right since after she came out of the hospital wing," Ron admitted, leaving his swallowing his food and pushing his food away from him as he began to think of how weird Hermione had been in comparison to when they'd met her.

"You're right, she was fine when we came out of our first charms class," Harry pondered.

"But then she was late to the common room, when she woke us up it looked like she had been crying," Ron observed.

"do you remember what the time was Ron?" Harry asked rhetorically, "It was at least 11.30, she was definitely out after curfew."

"Recently she hasn't been eating much, I noticed that the other week," Ron told him, looking at his plate of food and picking up a potato, stuffing it in his mouth. He knew that now was not the time to be eating but he really was hungry.

"And don't you think she's been looking a bit worn out, her eyes have bags under them and I even noticed her nodding off in Potions the other day, I had to wake her up before Snape noticed," Harry admitted.

"We need to talk to her mate," Ron told him, grabbing another potatoe off his plate.

"Perhaps we can catch her in the common room this evening," Harry suggested, looking at the food in front of him but feeling to concerned to eat any thing.

"Good idea," Ron agreed, before turning to Neville who was sat next to them, "Have you seen Hermione today Nev?" Ron asked.

"Um, no" Neville replied nervously, although he was the trios friend now he still got a bit nervous around them from time to time. "but I heard Lavender tell Parvati that she saw Hermione crying in the first floor bathroom just before lunch."

Before Ron or Harry could reply the doors to the great hall flew open and Professor Quirrell ran through them, pale as a ghost.

"Troll. Troll. Troll in the castle ... Thought you ought to know," He screamed before fainting onto the floor. While the hall erupted into hoards of screaming children Harry and Ron both looked at eachother, there faces going white but not because of the troll.

"Hermione," They both said in unison.

"Prefects will you please escort your houses up to your common room, we will inform you when the problem has been dealt with," McGonagalls voice boomed around the hall.

Harry looked up, he found it weird that Dumbledore hadn't made the announcement. As he looked at the headmaster he noticed him glaring darkly at Quirrell, who was just waking up from his faint, only to meet eyes with Dumbledore and fainting again.

"We need to go and find her," Harry called to Ron over the noise that the other students were making.

"Let's go," Ron replied, grabbing Harry as they rushed out of the hall with all the other students before slipping off and racing towards the girls bathroom.

As they reached the end of the corridor they saw the troll enter a room to the right, they ran up to it as it made its way in and quickly locked the door behind it.

"At least that's the troll sorted," Ron sighed in relief. As he looked to Harry he noticed him staring at the door, his eyes wide with shock.

"Ron, that's the girls bathroom," Harry muttered, as he unlocked the door, he was greeted with the sound of Hermiones screams.

"Hermione!" Harry cried out.

"Harry!" Hermione shrieked.

"Leave her alone, you fat ugly brute!" Harry yelled as he jumped up onto the trolls back, sticking his wand in its nose by accident in the process. This seemed to distract him and while the troll was occupied Hermione reached for her wand and cast a stupefy.

"Why isn't it working?" Hermione yelled, watching in horror as Harry was lifted from the trolls shoulders.

As Harry was having the bat swung at him while upside down Hermione remembered a paragraph from one of her text books.

 _Species known to be naturally resistant to stupefy include dragons, trolls, giants and half-giants._

Hermione groaned in annoyance, how could she have been so stupid, she needed to use physical violence to bring down the troll.

"Wingardium Leviosa," Hermione cried, pointing her wand at the Trolls club just as it was about to wack Harry around the head. The troll dropped Harry when he noticed his club was no longer in his hand and turned to face the culprit.

Hermione could feel her knees shaking as the troll turned to face her, walking a few steps closer. She was face to face with the troll and was scared out of her mind, she didn't like to show fear, it made her feel weak so she did the only thing she could think of.

Harry watched as Hermione moved the club over the trolls head and dropped it carelessly onto its head. At first he thought that nothing had happened, that was until the troll fell backwards onto the bathroom floor with a massive thud.

"Wow, that was bloody brilliant," Ron exclaimed, watching Hermione in awe.

"Thanks Ron," Hermione said gratefully, trying to stop herself from shaking.

"Hermione!" Both boys shouted, as if the shock was too much and they only just realised who it was that was talking to them.

Hermione giggled as both her boys enveloped her in a massive group hug.

"Miss Granger, Mr Weasley, Mr Potter, what an earth is going on here?!" Someone shrieked, interrupting the trios special moment. The three of them turned around and were met with the astonished face of Professor McGonagall, Snape and Dumbledore, all stood by the door. There eyes were flickering between the troll and the three of them.

Hermione refused to make contact with Severus' eyes and walked a step or two away from the boys so that she was closer to the teachers.

"It was all my fault Professor, I heard about the troll and thought that I could take it on myself, the boys just came to stop me," Hermione lied, she could tell that McGonagall was sceptical but prayed that she would believe her. She flicked a quick silencing spell at the boys who frowned at her in annoyance, wanting to voice the fact that she did nothing wrong. Severus didn't fail to miss this, he also knew that Hermione was lying because she hadn't been at the feast so wouldn't know there was a troll, however, he let it go.

"I expected more from you Miss Granger," McGonagall told her in disappointment," 50 points will be taken from Gryffindor for your unbelievably poor judgement."

"Yes, Professor," Hermione replied dejectedly.

"As for you two," McGonagall carried on, looking at Ron and Harry pointedly, "30 points will be rewarded to Gryffindor each for your ... interesting rescue," McGonagall said, looking at the unconscious Troll on the floor in distaste. Hermione hastily removed the silencing charms on the boys so that they could reply.

"Thank You Professor," The boys replied, glaring at Hermione but not daring to correct the professor in fear of unleashing Hermiones wrath.

"Now, I suggest the three of you go back to your common room," McGonagall informed them, leaving the bathroom hastily.

"Miss Granger, could I please speak to you in my office," Severus asked Hermione, who glared at him in defiance but followed any way because Dumbledore was present and she didn't want to seem disrespectful.

"Of course Sir," She replied. Following Severus silently down to the dungeons and into his office. Severus opened the door for her as they reached his quarters.

"I thought we were going to your office," Hermione remarked snidely.

"I lied, apparently I'm good at that," Severus replied, smiling when Hermione didn't talk back but walked into his quarters reluctantly, a scowl plastering her features.

"What do you want?" Hermione hissed, refusing to sit down any where.

"I want to tell you the truth," Severus told her.

"So you're finally going to tell me that my mother is nothing but a filthy criminal who deserves her lifetime sentence in Azkaban?" Hermione asked, not noticing the way that her father clenched onto the arm chair he was sat in so tightly that his knuckles her turning white. "Don't bother because I already know."

"SIT DOWN!" Severus shouted. Hermione froze, he's never shouted at her in private before, in all honesty it terrified her.

"Never refer to your mother as that ever again and before you spout more rubbish let's get one thing straight." Severus hissed coldly, chilling Hermione to the bone.

"Your mum is not a criminal, she was framed. She would never do anything to hurt you or any one else unless it was necessary. Alice and Frank were our friends and she would do nothing to harm them, she didn't do it, okay? She. Didn't. Do. It." He said, getting worked up the longer he talked for. Afterwards he sunk into his chair, his hands reaching up to rest his face in.

"She didn't do it?" Hermione mumbled, more to herself than any one else.

"No," Severus dead panned.

"But -"

"Hermione, listen to me. Your mum was framed, she's innocent." Severus reminded her.

"She is?" Hermione asked.

"She is."

"Daddy, I'm so sorry!" Hermione spluttered out, "I'm so sorry for how I behaved, I can't believe I reacted like that! I wasted 2 months that I could've been spending with you worrying about the fact that I thought mum was a criminal. Merlin, I'm such an idiot. I'm so sorry daddy, I'm sorry, I should've known" Hermione wailed. Severus got up from his arm chair and pulled his daughter into a tight embrace.

"It's alright poppet," he whispered soothingly into her ear, "Everyone makes mistakes."

"Will you tell me about her?" Hermione asked, looking into her dads eyes.

"Of course I can," Severus replied happily.

For the rest of the evening Severus told Hermione all about the things Olivia got up to at Hogwarts and about how they met. He told her everything.

At about 11 Hermione fell asleep on his lap and Severus watched her sleep peacefully for a bit before he summoned a house elf to take her up to her room.

"At least everything's sorted," He mumbled to himself as he got into bed, sighing in relief, "For now."

* * *

 **Thank you so much for reading this chapter, I hoped you liked it. Reviews are appreciated but not necessary. Have a nice day/evening wherever you are :)**

 **Chapter Question: What did y'all think to Hermione dropping the club on the trolls head instead of Ron? Should I include Neville in more of their adventures? What about Severus? Is he acting too out of character or is it working for the story?!**


	6. Chapter 6

**_Here's Chapter Six of It's a Twin Thing! Hope you enjoy it :) Thanks to everyone who reviewed since my last update, it really means a lot!_**

* * *

 _*Last Time*_

 _"STOP LYING TO ME!" Hermione screamed, fed up of all the lies and just wanting her father to be truthful. She felt as the tears she'd been trying to hold back since she began talking to him dripped unwillingly down her face._

 _"Hermione, please calm down. It's not like that, I haven't lied," Severus pleaded with her, he could feel his heart tearing at her tears. He didn't want his little girl to be upset, especially when it was his fault._

 _"WELL YOU HAVEN'T TOLD THE TRUTH HAVE YOU? HOW COULD YOU DO THIS? I ONLY JUST REALISED TWO MONTHS AGO THAT MY REAL DAD WAS ALIVE AND I WAS SO EXCITED TO MEET MUM BUT NOW I'M NEVER GOING TO SEE HER BECAUSE SHE'D A BLOODY CRIMINAL! HOW AM I EVER GOING TO LOOK NEVILLE IN THE EYE AGAIN, KNOWING THAT HE WAS COST A CHILDHOOD WITH HIS PARENTS BECAUSE OF MY MOTHER ... do you know how this has been affecting me that last couple of months?" Hermione finished weakly, the fight leaving her eyes. All she wanted to do now was curl up into a ball and cry her eyes out, she was done with this._

 _..._

 _"Your mum is not a criminal, she was framed. She would never do anything to hurt you or any one else unless it was necessary. Alice and Frank were our friends and she would do nothing to harm them, she didn't do it, okay? She. Didn't. Do. It." He said, getting worked up the longer he talked for. Afterwards he sunk into his chair, his hands reaching up to rest his face in._

 _"She didn't do it?" Hermione mumbled, more to herself than any one else._

 _"No," Severus dead panned._

 **Chapter Six**

"Harry, we shouldn't be out here," Hermione whispered, trying to keep her voice as quiet as possible so that they wouldn't get caught.

"Hermione we'll be fine," Harry assured her.

"Yeah, all we've got to do is meet Malfoy and his cronies. Have a little dual and then we'll be gone," said Ron, opening the door to the trophy room - where they were meeting for the dual.

"What if it's a trick? What if he just goes and tells a teacher?" Hermione asked them, knowing that this was the most likely to happen.

"Don't be ridiculous 'Mione, Malfoy has too much pride to go against his word," Ron told her.

"Very well, whatever you say, but when we get caught don't look to me for help," Hermione concluded, knowing that this was never going to end well.

After the school had found out that Harry and Ron had managed to defeat the troll that got into Hogwarts, Malfoy and his little gang approached the three of them and challenged Harry to a wizard dual to see who the better wizard really was.

At first Hermione had refused to go with them, she wasn't about to get caught out of hours because of a stupid little dual between two groups of 11 year old boys but eventually Harry and Ron persuaded her to go and to be honest she just wanted to be there to witness it when everything went to shit around them.

The boys were guaranteed to be caught and something funny was bound to happen, plus, if the dual got too out of hand then Hermione would be there to make sure nobody got hurt and to break it up if needs be, just as they were about to enter the trophy room Hermione cast a quick disillusionment charm on herself so that they couldn't see her, after all the rules stated that each dualist was to only have one friend as back up.

"Well, well, well, look who finally turned up," Draco taunted as the three of them stepped into the trophy room, only to be met with 5 Slytherins.

"What happened to only one friends as back up Malfoy?" Harry spat as he glared at Dracos onterage.

"Yeah, that's cheating!" Ron bellowed, shaking his fist in fury.

"Who said they were all dualing?" Draco drawled. Hermione didn't like his attitude and seen as how Draco brought 4 of his friends it wouldn't hurt for her to reveal herself as Harrys extra back up as well.

Hermione quickly took the charm off of herself and ignored the sounds of disbelief from the Slytherins at her ability to cast such a charm.

"That's against the rules Malfoy and you know it," Hermione growled at him.

"When have Slytherins ever played to the rules mudblood?" Draco sneered at her before whipping out his wand and pointing it in her direction, ignoring the fact that Harry had also cheated.

"Try me Malfoy," Hermione dared him, raising her wand in preparation, she knew what she was going to do.

"Locomotor Mortis," Draco shouted, Hermione held in the laughter at such a juvenile jinx.

Hermione quickly flicked it away with a quick protego, before mocking Malfoys skills to get him worked up, "Is that all you've got Malfoy? Surely the heir to a noble pureblood house knows more complex jinxes that that."

"I'll show you mudblood," Draco spat, a nasty curse on the end of his tongue when a clattering was heard from the back of the trophy room. Everyone turned to see where the noise came from, everyone except Hermione who kept her wand and eyes trained on Malfoy. Hermione also noticed that one of Malfoys cronies, she thought she remembered his name being Theo, still had his eyes trained on her and hadn't even flinched at the noise.

"IT'S FILCH'S CAT!" Ron shrieked, rushing off into the direction of the door, away from the noise. Harry followed after him, rushing out of the room. Draco ran in the opposite direction, with Crabbe, Goyle and Blaise Zabini trailing after him.

"That way," Both Hermione and Theo said at the same time, running out the same way as Harry and Ron.

They ran as fast as they could and just as they were about to get away the staircase they were on moved and they ended up in a corridor.

"Hermione, in here," Theo called as they reached a large, ancient looking door.

"We can't go in there!" Hermione insisted, "That's the third floor corridor, it's out of bounds."

"Which would you rather, get caught by filch and his cat or experience a slow and painful death," Theo asked mockingly as he quoted Dumbledore from the start of term banquet.

"Slow and painful death it is," Hermione said cheekily, she liked Theo already, even if he was a Slytherin and one of Malfoys cronies. Hermione opened the door with a quick _'alohomora_ ' and ran in with Theo hot on her tail.

"There's a door down here, we can hide in it, it's probably just a cupboard," Hermione called.

The two of them ran towards the door, shoving themselves in, just in time. Filch had just come through the first door and was searching for any students that were out of their beds.

"I think he's gone," Hermione whispered, peering out of the door at the retreating figure of Filch.

"Hermione," Theo whimpered, staring in the opposite direction of the door, his face pallor and eyes wide in fear.

"What is it? Have you seen a spider or something?" Hermione asked jokingly, not understanding what had gotten Theo so worked up. She turned around to see what he was looking at and quickly froze at the sight before her.

What she assumed was going to be a tiny spider crawling up a wall turned out to be a massive three headed dog, all three of its mouths open and teeth bared, drool dripping out the corners of its mouth, Hermione could feel it's breath on her face.

"RUN!" Hermione called, taking note of the small trap door under it's left back foot in her train of sight as she turned around to flee.

Theo didn't hesitate in listening to Hermiones command and soon enough the two of them were wrestling to shut the door, with the three headed monster trying to pry it open with its many paws.

"Why the hell would that stupid old fool keep a massive three headed dog in a school?" Hermione shrieked, waving her hands around in astonishment.

"Hermione?" A voice called from down the corridor. Hermione turned around to see Ron and Harry peering into the corridor, a confused expression on their faces. Hermione walked towards them and noticed that their faces were bright red from running away from Mrs Norris and Filch.

"What are you doing here?" Hermione asked.

"We heard you shouting something and came to find you," Harry told her, his eyes narrowing as he caught sight of Theo behind her.

"What's he doing here?" Ron snapped viciously, as he too caught sight of Theo.

"Don't be so rude," Hermione scolded him, "We ran in the same direction and came in here to hide from Filch and Mrs Norris."

"He's still a Slytherin," Ron muttered under his breath, Hermione however caught this.

"Don't be ridiculous Ron, who cares if he's a Slytherin. He hasn't done anything mean so I have no reason to not like him," Hermione retorted, turning around to face Theo, giving him a little smile which he hesitantly returned.

"Whatever," He once again muttered.

"So what were you shouting for?" Harry asked quickly, trying to change the subject.

"The great and magnificent Dumbledore is keeping a three headed dog in the school," Hermione told him, sarcastically speaking Dumbledore's name and her chosen title for him.

"A three headed dog?" Harry asked unbelievably.

"Bloody hell, you can't be serious," said Ron.

"Do you think I'm lying Ronald?" Hermione asked him, raising a pointed eyebrow at him just daring him to disagree with her.

"No, of course not Mione," he spluttered in return, wondering how she could be so scary. He had to admit that at that very moment she looked just like Snape and it scared the crap out of him.

"Good, now I'm going to bed before either of you get us expelled. If you want to see the dog for yourself then it's on the door to the left. Oh and be careful because me and Theo may have aggravated it just a tad," Hermione warned them, sending them a wink before turning on her heels and heading down the stairs with Theo going after her.

"You didn't have to stand up for me," Theo told her as they walked back in the direction of the trophy room.

"I know I didn't," Hermione replied.

"Then why did you? I'm just a Slytherin and you're a mudblood, you shouldn't have," Theo said, watching her to see if his use of the word mudblood had affected her. He was surprised when she didn't even flinch and simply answered back in a heart beat as if the word had meant nothing to her.

"I don't want to judge people on what house they were sorted into, I'll let you know I was almost a Slytherin myself," Hermione told him, not quite sure why she told him that but feeling as if she could trust him for some insane reason. Just as Theo was about to answer they reached the trophy room and Hermione turned around and began making her way back to the Gryffindor common room.

"Oh and by the way Theo, I know you called me a mudblood just to see how I'd react and I just thought I should let you know that I don't care. Have a good night, see you soon," Hermione called over shoulder, sniggering at the look of shock on Theos' face as she turned the corner.

...

"So you boys finally decided to wake up did you?" Hermione asked as Harry and Ron sat down on either side of her, wiping their eyes lazily and yawning before both reaching for some English breakfast.

"You were right," Harry admitted, stuffing some bacon into his mouth.

"Oh, I was?" Hermione asked in mock surprise.

"Yeah you were," Ron said grudgingly, "there really was a three headed dog in that room."

"I told you so," Hermione sang, doing a little jig in her chair, earning some weird looks from her fellow house mates and a chuckle from Harry and Ron.

"Hand it over," Harry said, reaching his hand over towards Ron, who handed him a sickle with a huff.

"You bet on me? How very rude," Hermione replied, reaching up to clutch her heart, a mock hurt expression gracing her features.

"At least I got a sickle out of it," Harry said cheekily, earning himself a slap on the arm from Hermione.

"So inconsiderate," Hermione muttered under her breath, smirking up at Harry so he knew she was only joking.

"Whatever you say 'Mione," Harry replied.

"So back to the dog, what are we going to do about it?" Hermione asked, watching as Ron almost spat out the toast in his mouth.

"What are you on about? I don't want to go near that thing again," Ron nearly screamed.

"Come on Ron, you can't tell me you're not at least a teensy bit curious as to why that thing is there," Harry said to him, taking a bite of toast himself.

"Maybe just a bit," Ron admitted sheepishly.

"Exactly, also did either of you notice the trap door in the floor?" Hermione asked, excited that all three of them could now figure it out together.

"Trap door?" They both asked in unison.

"Yeah, the trap door underneath its left back foot," Hermione told them.

"So you were face to face with a three headed dog and you still managed to spot a trap door on the floor?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Bloody mad, that's what you are," Ron retorted.

"Thanks Ron, I'll take that as a compliment," Hermione said sarcastically, rolling her eyes at him in exasperation, "and, yes, I saw a trap door but I have no idea what's down there. It must be something important if Dumbledore is using a three headed dog to guard it."

"Perhaps it's the thing that Hagrid got out of the vault in Gringotts, he said it was for Dumbledore and that it was really important," Harry thought out loud.

"That must be it," Hermione replied, "Do you know what he took out?"

"No idea, he just said it was important Hogwarts business when I asked him," Harry told her, his eyes darting from Hermiones face to the staff table.

Hermione followed his eyes and almost gasped at the sight before her, on his way to the staff table was Severus, and he was limping.

"What happened to Snape?" Harry asked.

"I have no idea," Hermione replied, trying her best to hide the concern in her voice.

 _but I'm going to find out_ , she added in her head.

...

"Dad?" Hermione called, as she opened the door to his private quarters.

Earlier that week Severus had modified the wards so that she could enter, he also added her to his floo in Hogwarts and the floo back at Spinners End so that, if needs be, she could get to him in an emergency or if she just wanted to see him.

Hermione hadn't been able to see him since he limped into the Great Hall earlier that week, she was worried about him and needed to know what was wrong. During potions class yesterday she realised that the limping hadn't ceased.

When she didn't hear a response she got a bit worried, he was usually marking at this time in the evening and he usually answered her when she called, perhaps he just hadn't heard her. Hermione began to walk towards the living room when she heard a hiss of pain coming from the other side of the living room door.

"Dad?" Hermione called in concern, opening the door in a flurry and stopping dead in her tracks when she took in the room before her.

In her rush to see if Severus was alright she didn't notice the other occupant in the room, but as soon as she opened the door and called out for Severus the damage had been done.

There, standing over Severus was Professor McGonagall. As soon as she heard the word leave Hermiones mouth her head snapped up and she gasped in shock at the sight of Hermione standing at the door, frozen in place and staring at Severus in both horror and fear.

"Miss Granger?" McGonagall asked in disbelief, her head turning to look at both Severus and Hermione consecutively.

"Minerva," Severus warned quietly, hoping that she wasn't about to go into one of her famous rants and scare Hermione even more than she already seemed to be.

"I … She ... She's your … you're her … I need to sit down," McGonagall mumbled, clutching onto one of the arm chairs and slumping into it, her face pale and eyes wide.

"Yes," Severus confirmed, sinking into his chair and eyeing McGonagall with concern, "Hermione will you come and sit over here please," Severus asked, motioning to the place next to him on the sofa. Hermione did as she was told and walked shakily towards Severus.

"Daddy, I'm so sorry, I didn't know," Hermione apologised, sitting herself down and clutching onto her fathers arm for comfort. At the sound of Hermione calling Severus 'dad' again McGonagall snapped out of her momentary loss of concentration and her eyes snapped onto a frightened Hermione holding onto Severus' arm.

"Don't worry about it poppet," Severus replied, calming Hermione down by rubbing his thumb over her knuckles and smiling at her reassuringly.

McGonagall was shocked at what she'd just witnessed, she knew that Severus wasn't the emotionless dungeon bat that he portrayed in public but she'd never seen him act in such a caring manner before. In the past, no matter how hard she tried to get him out of his shell she never succeeded. While in private we was less grumpy but he was still closed off and often spoke in a bored tone.

"What is going on?" McGonagall asked, regaining her composure enough to be able to talk.

"Minerva, I know it's unexpected but Hermione is my daughter," Severus told her evenly, trying not to let too much of his emotions show in front of the woman.

"Daughter? Why did you never say anything Severus?" McGonagall asked.

"I thought her to be dead, we only found each other after the sorting ceremony," Severus replied sadly, thinking back to how much emotional pain he had been in that day, just thinking about it now made him want to cringe and cry, but he couldn't think like that any more, he had his daughter back and that was the most important thing. All he needed now was to get Olivia out of Azkaban and everything could be just like it was before, they could be a happy family and Severus would finally feel whole again.

"Oh, Severus. I'm so sorry, why didn't you tell anyone? Who's her mothe – wait a second," McGonagall stopped mid sentence, staring at Hermione.

Her mind wondered back to the day of the sorting ceremony, when she had first laid eyes on Hermione.

 _*Flashback*_

 _"Good Evening Students, I'm Professor McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor House and -" McGonagall began but froze when her eyes landed on Hermione. All heads turned to where McGonagall was now staring and kept looking between the Professor and Hermione._

 _McGonagall didn't know what to do, her mind had gone into a panic. This girl was a spitting image of Olivia Potter, memories flooded McGonagalls vision. The last time she'd seen Olivia embedded in her thoughts, it couldn't be possible._

 _Surely if she'd had a daughter I would've known, she wouldn't keep that a secret would she? Perhaps her father was someone she thought we wouldn't approve of, she must've told James and Lily though. There is no doubt that this is Olivias daughter, but who's the father and why didn't she tell me?_

 _"Professor, are you okay?" Hermione asked, worried for McGonagall, who'd now turned pale and was staring at her with blank eyes._

 _At the sound of Hermiones voice McGonagall snapped out of her day dream and shook her head violently._

 _"Of course, I'm so sorry. I don't know what came over me," McGonagall apologised to the group and carryied on with her speech._

 _*End of flashback*_

" You and … and Olivia?" McGonagall stumbled.

"How did you know?" Hermione asked, speaking for the first time since McGonagall began talking.

"My dear, you look just like her," McGonagall replied, an unfamiliar kindness in her voice, "your mother was my favourite student while in school and once she graduated she became like a niece of sorts," McGonagall informed her. Hermione couldn't help but notice that McGonagalls eyes had began to water and she quickly reached into her bag and pulled out a handkerchief.

"Thank you dear," McGonagall said gratefully, taking the handkerchief and dabbing her eyes.

"Are you okay Professor?" Hermione asked.

"Perfectly fine, I just get a bit teary when I think of what an awful fate Olivia has been condemned to," McGonagall replied, dabbing away the last of her tears.

"I'm going to get her out," Hermione stated confidently. Severus' head snapped up at Hermiones comment.

"Hermione there is no way," Severus sighed sadly.

"There's always a way," Hermione replied defiantly, she straightened her back and stared at her father with determination in her eyes.

"Poppet, I've tried everything I could think of and nothing worked, I can't even send her letters so how are you going to get her out?" He asked, stressing the word you. He didn't want to upset her but he also didn't want her to have false hope and then be crushed when her plans didn't work.

"Dad, you may have tried everything you could think of but I'm not you and I will find a way to get mum out even if I have to do it on my own," Hermione said determinedly.

Severus watched as his little girl stared at him in defiance, his heart went out to her. He knew that attempting to get Olivia out of Azkaban was futile, he'd tried himself and each time failed. He remembered how each time he failed his heart would break just a little more. He didn't want that for his little girl, he didn't want her to have to go through the same pain he had but looking into her eyes now he saw that she wasn't going to change her mind any time soon.

Before he could say anything more to Hermione he was interrupted by the woman sitting opposite him.

"If I had an doubts about who your mother was then I'm definitely convinced now. You have her sprint my dear," McGonagall chuckled. Hermione simply smiled at her professor and looked at Severus to see what his reaction would be.

"Now that that's all sorted out, what did you want Hermione?" Severus asked, relieved that McGonagall had taken to the news calmly, well as calm as she could be in such a situation. He purposely ignored the topic that Hermione had been adamantly ranting on before, they could talk about that at a later date but now was not the time.

Hermione looked at her father for a moment wondering what an earth he was talking about, it suddenly clicked that she was here for a reason. After everything that had just happened Hermione had forgotten all about her reason for coming to her fathers quarters in the first place.

"Oh, I need to know why you're limping," Hermione told him, her voice casual as if it weren't a big deal.

"Need to or want to?" Severus replied, trying to hold in a chuckle at how blunt she was.

"Need to," Hermione replied cheekily.

"I'm afraid I cannot tell you poppet," Severus said regretfully, he didn't want to keep secrets from her but this was one thing he could not reveal.

"Couldn't you at least show me your leg, you don't have to tell me what happened but I just want to make sure you're alright," she said.

Hermione had an idea of what had happened to him and if she were able to see his leg then her suspicions would either be confirmed or denied.

"It's not nice Hermione," Severus warned her.

"I can handle it," Hermione assured him.

Severus simply raised an eyebrow up sceptically but complied to her wishes and lifted up the fabric of his robes to reveal the nasty wound beneath it.

Hermione tried her best to compose he features but couldn't help the gasp that escaped her once she caught sight of how bad the wound really was. Hermione quickly regained her composure and looked up at her father in pity.

"Daddy, you've been bitten," Hermione said, it wasn't a question, it was a fact. There right in front of her eyes were teeth marks scattering Severus' calf, they were healed well but Hermione could still see that the skin surrounding the marks were red with agitation and that the wound was still causing her father quite a lot of pain, no matter how hard he tried to hide it.

"Yes, but that's all you're allowed to know," Severus informed her.

"I understand," Hermione said, smiling at him before standing up from where she had crouched down to look at the wound.

"I know that smile Hermione, your mother used to have the exact same one when she was up to something. I don't want you going of and getting into trouble, you're too inquisitive for your own good poppet and I can assure you that no matter how hard you try you'll not find out how this happened," Severus warned her lightly, not wanting her to become involved and getting hurt.

"Maybe I already know," Hermione smirked, walking over towards the door, "see you in class tomorrow," She said chirpily, looking back at the stunned faces of her father and professor before closing the door behind her and making her way back to Gryffindor tower.

"She's definitely your daughter Severus," McGonagall chuckled.

"Trust me I know, but what worries me is that she's also like Olivia and you know how much trouble she got into at school because she couldn't keep her nose out of everyone's business." Severus replied, staring at the door Hermione had just closed.

"Good luck," is all McGonagall said before she grabbed some floo powder and flooded back to her own quarters.

"I'm going to need it," Severus muttered to a now empty room.

* * *

 _ **Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed, reviews would be appreciated :)**_

 _ **Chapter Question: What house are you all in?**_


	7. Chapter 7

**_Here's the next chapter of 'It's a Twin Thing', I hope you enjoy it :) Thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter!_**

* * *

 _*Last Time*_

 _"Dad?" Hermione called in concern, opening the door in a flurry and stopping dead in her tracks when she took in the room before her._

 _In her rush to see if Severus was alright she didn't notice the other occupant in the room, but as soon as she opened the door and called out for Severus though the damage had been done._

 _There, standing over Severus was Professor McGonagall. As soon as she heard the word leave Hermiones mouth her head snapped up and she gasped in shock at the sight of Hermione standing at the door, frozen in place and staring at Severus in both horror and fear._

 _"Miss Granger?" McGonagall asked in disbelief, her head turning to look at both Severus and Hermione consecutively._

 _"Minerva," Severus warned quietly, hoping that she wasn't about to go into one of her famous rants and scare Hermione even more than she already seemed to be._

 _"I … She ... She's your … you're her … I need to sit down," McGonagall mumbled, clutching onto one of the arm chairs and slumping into it, her face pale and eyes wide._

 _"Yes," Severus confirmed, sinking into his chair and eyeing McGonagall with concern, "Hermione will you come and sit over here please," Severus asked, motioning to the place next to him on the sofa. Hermione did as she was told and walked shakily towards Severus._

 _"Daddy, I'm so sorry, I didn't know," Hermione apologised, sitting herself down and clutching onto her fathers arm for comfort. At the sound of Hermione calling Severus 'dad' again McGonagall snapped out of her momentary loss of concentration and her eyes snapped onto a frightened Hermione holding onto Severus' arm._

 _"Don't worry about it poppet," Severus replied, calming Hermione down by rubbing his thumb over her cheek and smiling at her reassuringly._

 _..._

 _"Are you okay Professor?" Hermione asked._

 _"Perfectly fine, I just get a bit teary when I think of what an awful fate Olivia has been condemned to," McGonagall replied, dabbing away the last of her tears._

 _"I'm going to get her out," Hermione stated confidently. Severus' head snapped up at Hermiones comment._

 _"Hermione there is no way," Severus sighed sadly._

 _"There's always a way," Hermione replied defiantly, she straightened her back and stared at her father with determination in her eyes._

 _"Poppet, I've tried everything I could think of and nothing worked, I can't even send her letters so how are you going to get her out?" He asked, stressing the word you. He didn't want to upset her but he also didn't want her to have false hope and then be crushed when her plans didn't work._

 _"Dad, you may have tried everything you could think of but I'm not you and I will find a way to get mum out even if I have to do it on my own," Hermione said determinedly._

 _Severus watched as his little girl stared at him in defiance, his heart went out to her. He knew that attempting to get Olivia out of Azkaban was futile, he'd tried himself and each time failed. He remembered how each time he failed his heart would break just a little more. He didn't want that for his little girl, he didn't want her to have to go through the same pain he had but looking into her eyes now he saw that she wasn't going to change her mind any time soon._

 **Chapter 10**

"We won!" Ron bellowed, he was currently stood on the table in the middle of the common room, waving his arms around like crazy, while swinging his Gryffindor Quidditch jersey around in the air above him.

Hermione just watched him in amusement, laughing when he slipped and fell off the table onto Neville.

Harry, meanwhile, had been lifted into the air by the Weasley twins and was being paraded around the common room while the house chanted his name.

"HARRY! HARRY! HARRY!"

Harry hadn't felt this happy in ages, in fact, he didn't think he'd ever felt this happy. As Fred and George place him back on the ground he found himself enveloped in a crush by none other than Hermione.

"Oh my gosh! Harry that catch was amazing!" Hermione squealed, jumping up and down, with Harry still in her arms.

"Thanks Mione, but I kind of need to breathe," He spluttered, grateful when Hermione let him out of her grasp.

"Sorry," Hermione apologised sheepishly, "but that really was a wonderful catch, I can't believe you caught it in your mouth."

"Yeah, me neither," Harry admitted, "I didn't think I'd catch it at all."

"Of course you would've, you're the best seeker out there Harry, trust me," Hermione reassured him.

"Anyone below fourth year up to your dorms, McGonagall will have my head if she catches you up," Percy bellowed over the sound of cheering and music.

"Not Harry, he can't go," George cried, him and Fred picking Harry up on their shoulders once again.

"He's our Hero," shouted Fred, twirling in circles with Harry clinging on and smiling down at the students below him.

"HARRY! HARRY! HARRY! HARRY!"

While the crowd was cheering for Harry, Hermione managed to sneak out of the common room and made her way down to see her father; they hadn't talked in a while and she wanted to catch up.

"See you later mate," Fred said, clapping Harry on the back after letting him down.

"Don't let the bed bug bites," George called up to him as he made his way towards his dorm.

As Harry made his way up to his dorm he reflected on the game earlier that day, he was really nervous beforehand and Oliver had to get Hermione down in the changing rooms to calm him down, it was kind of embarrassing, but Hermione managed to clear his head and he went out to play the game with more confidence than he had before.

He honestly didn't think that he'd be able to catch the snitch and was relying on the chasers to get loads of points so that, even if the other team did catch the snitch, they would still win.

Halfway through the game though Harry remembered his broom acting weird, it was as if it was going to throw him off. After the game he discussed it with Hermione and Ron and they had some ideas.

Ron was adamant that it was Snape but Hermione assured them that it was someone else and that Snape was muttering the counter curse, apparently when she looked around the only other people she saw with eye contact required for a curse was Dumbledore, Hagrid, Professor Quirrell and Professor Flitwick.

Harry, on the other hand, had no idea who it was but he would rule out Hagrid and Dumbledore - he was Headmaster after all and Hagrid had been his first real friend.

Professor Quirrell just seemed too scared to even be considering him as the one who cursed his broom, but then again he was defence against the dark arts professor so he would know quite a bit about curses and there purpose.

Professor Flitwick also didn't seem like a likely candidate but, just like how Professor Quirrell is the DADA professor, he was the Charms Professor and would have a knack for curses.

"Why is it so confusing?" Harry muttered, as he made his way over to his bed.

"What was that mate?" Ron asked, he had just pulled the duvet cover over himself and had his elbow propped up on one pillow with his head resting on his hand.

"I said why is everything so confusing? I know that you think it was Snape that cursed my broom today but 'Mione's certain that it wasn't, what if it really was Professor Quirrell or Flitwick? Why would they be trying to kill me?" Harry asked helplessly, flopping down on to his bed.

"You're the boy who lived, there are a lot of people who want to kill you mate, especially death eaters," Ron told him.

"Death eaters?" Harry asked, he'd never heard of them before.

"Yeah, followers of you know who, they call themselves death eaters," Ron informed him.

"So you're telling me that I was attacked by death eaters?"

"Not necessarily, but when you think about it the person who cursed you might not of even been in the stadium, they could've been on the grounds," Ron said.

"I suppose," Harry replied.

"I still think it's Snape though," Ron said, before they were interrupted by the sounds of Seamus, Neville and Dean bombarding through the doors laughing at a joke Dean had just told them.

...

"Daddy?"

"Yes Poppet?"

"What are we going to do about Christmas?" Hermione asked, placing down the book she was reading on her lap and looking at her dad expectantly.

Severus sighed, he knew that this was coming. In all honesty he'd been thinking about this for a while, it would be the first Christmas that Severus had celebrated in a long time, well 10 years to be exact.

"Poppet ... I ... I want to spend it with you, I really do but -" Severus began before being cut off by Hermione.

"- but you have to stay at Hogwarts to supervise the students, I understand, besides the Grangers would probably be angry if I skipped," Hermione said sadly.

"I really am sorry 'Mione, I wanted to spend it with you, I really did," Severus told her softly.

"I know dad but honestly, it's okay," Hermione reassured him, taking his hand and squeezing it tightly.

"As long as you're sure," Severus informed, hating that he couldn't spend Christmas with his daughter, and after he'd just found her as well.

"I'm sure," Hermione replied, managing to keep the tears at bay.

"How about you tell me about the couple who raised my beautiful daughter?" Severus asked, guessing that this would cheer Hermione up.

"I'd rather not Dad, not tonight," Hermione told him, she didn't want to have to explain that the Grangers weren't the loving parents he envisioned, or that they used her as their personal slaves and never called her by her name.

"I really am sorry Poppet," Severus repeated, thinking that she was upset about not spending Christmas with him. He pulled Hermione in for a hug and stroked her hair calmly with his hand while Hermione tried to fight back the tears that were brimming in her eyes.

"Daddy, I said it's fine, I'm going to go back to the common room now," said Hermione, only just realising how late it was and hoping that the boys hadn't noticed her absence so she could just get up to bed and sleep.

"Okay sweetheart," Severus replied, placing a kiss on her forehead, "Sweet dreams."

"Love you dad,"

"Love you too Poppet."

Hermione couldn't help but grin as she made her way towards the common room, sure it was after curfew and she had a high chance of getting caught but she'd mesmerised the prefects and teachers rounds and knew the route that filch took every night, so she should be fine.

As she was making her way up the stairs she noticed a figure walking along the grounds towards Hagrids hut, taking a closer look she realised it was Hagrid himself, a bottle in each hand and it looked as if he was dancing - or trying to dance.

"He's definitely drunk," Hermione whispered to herself.

She was about to continue walking up the stairs when an idea hit her, as fast as she could she ran up the stairs, narrowly missing Mrs Norris and into the common room. Luckily, every one had gone up to bed, she was also lucky that it was only the girls staircase that was enchanted to not allow boys up and not the other way round.

She quickly raced up the stairs and snook into the first year dorms.

"Harry ... psstt ... Harry ... wake up,"

"Huh? What, who is - Hermione?" Harry asked in shock, "What are you doing in here? How'd you get up?"

"Don't worry about that know, just get up, we're going to see Hagrid," Hermione told him, ruffling his hair playfully before tip toeing over to Ron and repeating the same process.

Luckily for Hermione she had anticipated Rons reaction and had cast a silencing spell on him previous to her waking him up. As she predicted Ron woke up and screamed, while swinging his arms around manically before realising that he wasn't being attacked by massive spiders and it was actually just Hermione coming to wake him up. She told Ron the same thing she'd told Harry and then made her way back down to the common room.

She sat herself down on the couch as she waited for the boys to emerge, it was at least ten minute before the pair arrived, dishevelled and pissed at being woken at Merlin knows what time in the evening.

"What is it 'Mione?" Harry asked, yawning as he sat next to her.

"Okay, so you know that there is a three headed dog in that room right?" Hermione said.

"Of course we do, you showed us," Ron replied, ruffling his hair to try and get rid of his bed head.

"Yes, well I think I know how to find out what it's guarding," Hermione told them in excitement.

"Really? How?" Harry asked, his tiredness suddenly evaporating as Hermione began speaking again.

"Who do we know that has a soft spot for dangerous animals?" Hermione asked, hoping that they knew who she was talking about.

"Hagrid!" Ron and Harry both cried before Hermione clapped a hand over each of their mouths.

...

"Who's there?" Hagrid bellowed as he heard a knock on his door, it was nearly one in the morning and he was enjoying a nice bottle of fire whiskey.

"Hagrid just open the door, it's freezing out here," Hermione told him.

"Hermione?" Hagrid asked, surprised that she was down here at this time.

"Yes, now open the door," She replied, quite miffed that he was just standing in there.

"Okay, okay, I'm comin'," He grunted, swinging the door open and allowing her in, surprised when two more bodies followed her.

"Arry? Ron? What are yer doing 'ere?" Hagrid asked.

"We have a question for you," Harry said, sitting himself down at the table.

"Yer do?" Hagrid asked, proud that he could be of use for once.

"We do," Hermione told him, "We were wondering why there's a three headed monster on the third corridor."

"Monster? Fluffy ain't no monster," Hagrid bellowed, insulted that they would refer to his pet as a monster.

"Fluffy?" Ron cried, "You called that thing Fluffy?"

"Ron, shut up," Hermione hissed, jabbing him in the ribs.

"Why's Fluffy there Hagrid?" Harry asked politely, not wanting to offend his first friend again.

"Well he's guarding the - " Hagrid began, but stopped when he looked at the intrigued faces staring up at him, "Why do yer want to know?"

"Hagrid we already know what's down there," Hermione told him, ignoring the looks she was getting from Harry and Ron.

"Yer do?" He asked.

"Yes," Harry confirmed, catching on to what Hermione was doing, "We just want you to confirm it."

"Oh, well if yer already know then there aint no 'arm in tellin' yer then," Hagrid decided.

"Thanks Hagrid," Hermione replied.

"Well yer've figured out that Fluffy is guardin' the Philosophers Stone, and nobody can get past 'im unless yer sing to 'im, he likes that," Hagrid said, smiling to himself as he thought of his beloved pet.

"Thanks Hagrid," Hermione chirped, motioning the boys to leave as she watched Hagrid fall slowly to sleep at the thought of Fluffy.

"Go," Hermione whispered, walking out of the door behind the boys. However, before she left she turned around and got out her wand. Checking that the boys were outside she lifted her wand up to Hagrid,

"Sorry Hagrid, but I can't have this getting to Dumbledore ... _Obliviate_ ..." She whispered, sad that she couldn't trust him to not blab to the headmaster.

"Everything alright?" Harry asked as Hermione closed the door.

"Yeah, just made sure that his fire was off, we don't want his house burning down," Hermione told them, feeling bad for lying.

"Okay, we best get back up to the common room," Ron said, peering around in the dark.

"Good idea," Hermione agreed, as the three of them made there way back up to the castle.

"Okay, so d - um Snape should be patrolling the dungeons and Percy is controlling the corridor outside the common room and at 1.30 am he'll be on the other side of the corridor so we can get in then, at the moment it's ... _tempus_... 1.15 so if we run then we should make it, just make sure you don't run into Filch because he'll be near the entrance with Mrs Filch, we should be fine but just in case put your cloak over your head and run for it, don't look back or he could see your face, okay?" Hermione told them, as they strolled up towards the doors.

"Bloody hell, 'Mione, how'd you remember all that?" Ron asked, astonished at how much information she could retain.

"I have a photographic memory," Hermione replied, before opening the doors.

"Ready?" Hermione whispered, both boys nodded, "Go."

They ran as fast as they could towards the common room and despite their best efforts Mrs Norris and Mr Filch were waiting at the bottom fo the stairs that they needed to get up.

Hermione quickly pulled Ron and Harry into an alcove near the stairs and told them the plan.

"Filch won't be expecting a bunch of first years to be running up the stairs right in front of his nose, if we're quick then he'll be too surprised and won't react fast enough, so all we got to do is creep up to that corner and then sprint up to the common room," Hermione told them.

Harry and Ron nodded nervously.

"This better work 'Mione," Harry warned.

"Don't worry it will, as long as you're quick."

"I trust you and everything but this is beyond ridiculuos," Ron commented, peering out the alcove at Filch and Mrs Norris.

"You can think what you want Ronald but if you want to get caught then go ahead and come up with a different plan," Hermione retorted, putting her hand on her hip and looking at Ron expectantly with her eyebrows raised.

Ron placed his hand on his chin and looked to be in deep thought before finally coming to a decision.

"Well, we could go back and head up towards Ravenclaw tower then cut across to Gryffindor tower through the fifth floor corridor," Ron said.

"Really? That's a great idea, why didn't I think of that?" Hermione replied sarcastically, Ron not picking up on the sarcasm grinned like a maniac.

"You really think so? I knew I could come up with a better plan than you," Ron replied smugly, proud that he'd actually come up with a better plan than Hermione.

"Oh yes, it's brilliant if you want to be caught by Penelope Clearwater who patrols the fifth floor corridor from 1 till 2," Hermione said, this time it being her turn to look smug.

"Fine, we'll do your plan," Ron told her in defeat, glaring when she smiled sweetly at him.

"Thank you Ronald, at least we're both on the same page now," Hermione told him, "Ready? Let's go."

Just like that Hermione raced out of the alcove, Ron and Harry hot on her heals, they sped past Mr Filch who barely had any time to recover from the surprise before he began racing after them.

"Quick, he's gaining on us," Hermione said, looking back briefly, but making sure to cover her face with her cloak so he wouldn't figure out who she was.

The three of them sped up and rounded a corner, the Gryffindor common room was up the stairs in front of them and by the looks of it Filch was slowing down, they couldn't even see him anymore. They climbed the stairs and Hermione internally cheered as the Gryffindor common room came into sight.

"Galanthus Nivalis," Hermione cried at the fat lady, who glared at the trio disapprovingly before swinging the portrait hole open and allowing them access.

"We made it," Ron huffed as they stood in common room, all out of breath from their run around the castle.

"We sure did," Harry replied happily, clapping Ron on the back and pulling Hermione in for a hug.

"We best go up to our dorms, I should probably start packing for next week" Hermione told them.

"You're not staying?" Harry asked, he really wanted both his best friends to be here for his first proper christmas.

"No, sorry Harry. I know you wanted me to stay but my - my parents want me home," Hermione replied, choking up at having to call the Grangers her parents.

"Don't worry 'Mione, we'll see you after the holiday," Harry said reassuringly.

"Yeah, we'll try and find out as much as possible about the stone while you're away," Ron said.

"Thanks guys," Hermione sniffled, not wanting to cry in front of them, "I'll see you in the morning," She said, and then made her way up the stairs and into bed.

Today had been emotional she decided, but they'd figured out what Fluffy was guarding ... The Philosophers Stone.

* * *

 _ **Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Reviews are appreciated, I love hearing what you guys think and receiving feedback on my work! Have a great day :)**_


	8. Chapter 8

**_Here's the next chapter of 'It's a Twin Thing', I hope you enjoy it :) Thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter!_**

 ** _Go check out the tumblr page for my fics - nympcdorafics_**

* * *

 _*Last Time*_

 _"Why's Fluffy there Hagrid?" Harry asked politely, not wanting to offend his first friend again._

 _"Well he's guarding the - " Hagrid began, but stopped when he looked at the intrigued faces staring up at him, "Why do yer want to know?"_

 _"Hagrid we already know what's down there," Hermione told him, ignoring the looks she was getting from Harry and Ron._

 _"Yer do?" He asked._

 _"Yes," Harry confirmed, catching on to what Hermione was doing, "We just want you to confirm it."_

 _"Oh, well if yer already know then there aint no 'arm in tellin' yer then," Hagrid decided._

 _"Thanks Hagrid," Hermione replied._

 _"Well yer've figured out that Fluffy is guardin' the Philosophers Stone, and nobody can get past him unless yer sing to him, he likes that," Hagrid said, smiling to himself as he thought of his beloved pet._

 _"Thanks Hagrid," Hermione chirped, motioning the boys to leave as she watched Hagrid fall slowly to sleep at the thought of Fluffy._

 _"Go," Hermione whispered, walking out of the door behind the boys, before she left though she turned around and got out her wand. Checking that the boys were outside she lifted her wand up to Hagrid,_

 _"Sorry Hagrid, but I can't have this getting to Dumbledore ... Obliviate ..." She whispered, sad that she couldn't trust him._

 _ **Chapter Eight**_

"Oh my gosh! I missed you guys so much," Hermione cried, as she ran towards her friends.

Harry, Ron and Neville had come and waited for her at Hogsmeade station, it was the first day back after the Christmas holidays and Hermione couldn't be any more overjoyed than she was the moment.

"It's good to see you too," Harry wheezed, as Hermione practically crushed him, Ron and Neville in a bear hug.

"How was your holiday 'Mione?" Ron asked, as she let go of them and they started making there way to the carriages.

Christmas at the Grangers was its usual boring affair, every year the Grangers had an annual ball, yes a ball. Richard and Jean invited all of their closest friends ... well ... Hermione used the term friends lightly. They were really just business associates and people who could get the family higher up in the social ladder.

Hermione spent the majority of her time with Martha - their maid - in the kitchens, baking a special homemade treacle tart for Hermione and her to eat later, when all the adults were preoccupied with Business talk.

The worst part about the whole thing is that Jean and Richard made her wear a dress, not just any dress but a frilly pink dress, with a corset. She was a twelve year old girl for heavens sake, she didn't need a corset.

Christmas day wasn't any better, she got a few presents from Jean and Richard, just a couple of dresses and some jewellery.

"A young lady should never have enough clothes," Jean had informed her, which was followed by a stern don't slouch from Richard, who was sat on the opposite side of the room, a glass of whiskey in his hand.

Christmas got significantly better in the early hours of boxing day though ...

 _*Flashback*_

 _Hermione was awoken by a tapping on the window._

 _"What's that noise?" Hermione pondered to herself, looking at the clock she realised that it was only 2 in the morning._

 _Her head turned to the window when she heard the tapping noise again. Outside there were two birds, each taking turns at tapping on her window._

 _Reluctantly, she got out of bed and opened the window for the birds to get in._

 _One was a big, majestic bird with ink black feather and cute yellow eyes, holding a letter in her beak and the other was Hedwig, holding three parcels in her mouth._

 _She took each present out of the birds mouth and opened the window to let them out again, Hedwig flew out straight away but the black bird stayed behind._

 _"Hey there cutie," Hermione cooed, stroking the back of the birds head with two fingers._

 _The bird nipped Hermione affectionately on the ear before taking flight and sending a coo back in her direction._

 _Hermione giggled at the birds antics before walking over to her bed and ripping the parcels open first._

 _She had a cute sweater from Rons mum, it was a lavender colour with a White 'H' embroidered on the front, Hermione thought it was wonderful and appreciated the efforts, she got a bag of fudge from Ron, a book on Ancient Runes from Neville (She'd expressed her interest in them to him and it seemed he'd remembered) and a bag of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans from Harry._

 _When she opened the letter brought by the black bird Hermione heart skipped, it was from her dad ..._

 _My dearest Hermione,_

 _Merry Christmas Poppet, I'm so sorry that I'm not with you on Christmas, hopefully next year we can be together. I just want to remind you how much I love you, I hope you know that I love you with every ounce of my being. I hope you realise your importance not only to me but to every one who has been lucky enough to know you. I hope you know that when you're feeling down I only ever strive for your happiness. I hope you remember that no matter what, I'm here for you and I fully intend on staying in your life for as long as I live. I hope you recognise the fact that I appreciate and adore you without restraints and that this will never change._

 _I'm so proud of every thing you've been able to achieve in the short time that we've been reunited, I know your mother would be proud as well and although she can't be with you, let me tell you just how much she loves you, She loves you unconditionally and she'd do anything for you, she'd walk through hell and back for you - just as I would._

 _Sleepyhead, close your eyes, for I'm right beside you._

 _Guardian angels are near, so sleep without fear._

 _Lullaby, and good night, with roses bedlight._

 _Lilies o'er head, lay thee down in thy bed._

 _Your mother will always be in your heart Poppet, remember that. One day we'll all be reunited, you'll see._

 _Love you 'Mione._

 _Dad x_

 _A steady stream of tears were cascading down Hermiones' cheek and she reached up for the locket around her neck, opening it she listened to the soothing sound of her mothers voice._

 _"I love you too dad," Hermione said into the darkness, as the verse that he'd written in her letter began playing._

 _As the song finished Hermione crawled back into bed, pulled the sheet over herself and closed her eyes._

 _"I love you mum," Hermione whispered, as she closed her eyes and fell asleep, dreaming of memories from when she was younger._

 _*End of Flashback*_

"Mione?" Neville asked, "Everything alright?"

"Oh, yeah, It was good! Thanks for the presents, I loved them," Hermione chirped.

"That's alright, I'm glad you liked them," Neville blushed, and Hermione smiled sweetly at him.

"So what did you guys do?" Hermione asked.

"Harry found this really neat mirror!" Ron told her excitedly.

"Mirror?" Hermione and Neville asked at the same time.

"Yeah, sorry we didn't tell you Nev, but we wanted to tell 'Mione with you," Harry said apologetically.

"Don't worry about it, it's fine," Neville informed him.

"When can we see it?" Hermione asked, eager to find out what was so special about this mirror.

"We'll go this evening," Harry decided.

"Okay, now hurry up, we're going to be late for dinner," Hermione called, as she got into one of the carriages ahead.

"Coming," the three of them called, before running to the cart, racing each other to see who'd come first.

Surprisingly, it was Neville.

...

"We shouldn't be out here," Neville whispered, trying not to fall out of the invisibility cloak.

Harry and Ron had explained to both Neville and Hermione about the mysterious invisibility cloak that Harry had been given for Christmas and although Neville was wary, Hermione was all for it because after Harry had shown her the note that accompanied it she knew exactly who had sent it to him and was going to talk to him later about it.

"Come on Neville, It's just a bit of fun," Hermione said, nudging him playfully in the side.

"Yeah, I suppose," Neville replied, smiling gingerly at Hermione.

"We're here," Harry announced, ripping the invisibility cloak off the four of them and opening a door. As they entered Hermione couldn't help the intake of breath that escaped as she looked at the most beautiful mirror in front of her.

"What does it say at the top?" Neville asked.

"Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi," Hermione said out loud, then smiled to herself, "It says 'I show not your face but your heart's desire.'"

"How in the bloody hell did you know that?" Ron asked.

"It's backwards Ron," Hermione told him.

"So it is," Ron replied in awe, as he read it backwards just like Hermione had before him.

Neville walked up to the mirror and had to stifle back a sob at what he saw.

"What is it Neville?" Harry asked, placing a hand on his friends shoulder, "What do you see?"

"My parents," Neville sniffled, placing a hand towards the mirror as if he could touch someone.

"Your ... your parents?" Hermione asked, feeling a strange sensation in her lower abdomen.

"Yeah," Neville replied weakly, before composing himself and moving away from the mirror, thankful for the fact that nobody asked him any questions.

"Why don't you try 'Mione?" Harry suggested, walking over to her and leading her towards the mirror.

"No, honestly, It's fine," Hermione managed to choke out, she knew what she was going to see in the mirror and to be quite honest she didn't know if she was ready for it.

"Come on 'Mione, It'll be fine," Harry assured her.

Hermione didn't have much to say in the matter before she was shoved in front of the mirror and then froze.

There in front of her was a group of people; her family. In the middle was herself, her dad and the woman next to him must've been her mum. she looked just like Hermione had imagined, brown hair just like hers, but her hair was less frizz and more curls, her skin was just that bit darker than Hermiones but was just light enough that you could still see the scattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose and along her cheeks. Her eyes were a bright blue and she had small, plump lips that popped on her face. She couldn't have been anymore than 5'5" but then again, Hermione was small for her age.

Next to them was a man that looked just like Olivia and Hermione realised that his was her Uncle Jamie, she remembered him from some of her dreams and to his left was Aunt Lils, with Harry standing in front of them holding his mums hand.

Hermione had started crying now, it wasn't until she saw the four people grinning at her from behind her parents that she started full on sobbing in front of the mirror.

Standing behind her was Uncle Moony, Uncle Padfoot, Aunt Marls and Aunt Alice.

She wasn't just crying from sadness, it was relief as well as happiness. She could remember them, she could remember them all.

She remembered how her Aunt Marls and Aunt Alice would dress her up in cute clothes and dance around the house with her as if she was at a grand ball.

She remembered how Uncle Padfoot would transform into his animagus and would take turns giving her and Harry rides on his back while Uncle Moony would place the other on his shoulders and pretend he was a muggle aeroplane.

She remembered how in the evenings they would sometimes all sit down and watch muggle Disney films, curled up in a blanket and eating what Aunt Lils liked to call Popcorn.

She could remember it all, she felt like she was going to explode from happiness. There was one thing nagging at her though, she knew that Aunt Marls, Aunt Lils and Uncle Prongs were dead. She knew that her mum was in Azkaban and she also knew that Aunt Alice was insane in St Mungos but she had no idea what had happened to Uncle Padfoot and Uncle Moony, if only she could remember their real names, then she could research them.

Before Hermione had anymore time to think a voice echoed throughout the room.

"Holding on to your dreams is all well and good, but there comes a point when holding on to your dreams becomes unhelpful and even unhealthy, Miss Granger," A voice said from behind the four of them.

"Professor Dumbledore," The three boys said in shock, as they turned around quicker than a race car and looked at Dumbledore in horror.

"Headmaster," Hermione said, nodding in Dumbledore's direction and turning around much calmer than the others, it was almost as if she knew he was there, she wiped the tears from her eyes and smiled politely at him.

"I see you've found the mirror of Erised," Dumbledore said, sitting on a table at the back of the room casually.

"So that's what it's called?" Neville asked.

"Yes Mr Longbottom, that's what it's called."

"So what we see in there, will it come true?" Ron asked, obviously thinking about becoming head boy and wanting it to become a reality.

"No, Mr Weasley, it will not." Dumbledore told him, "What you see in the mirror is simply your deepest desires, it's what you want most in this world."

"What do you see sir?" Hermione asked, intrigued as to what his answer would be.

"I see myself wearing a nice pair of socks," Dumbledore chuckled.

Hermione had to try and resist the urge to snort, was he honestly serious?

"What do you see young Harry?" Dumbledore asked, his eyes twinkling behind his glasses.

"I saw my mum and dad," Harry told him, "There was also a woman and a little girl, they seemed kind of familiar and I remember calling her Aunt Liv but that's about it."

Hermione watched as Dumbledore shifted his gaze onto her for but a second before returning his attention to Harry.

 _Well that was strange,_ Hermione thought to herself _, Does he know something?_

"Was there anyone else Harry? Perhaps someone stood next to the woman and little girl?" Dumbledore asked him.

"No ... Should there be?" Harry asked nervously, not wanting to disappoint Dumbledore.

"No, I was simply enquiring, how about you Miss Granger, What did you see?"

"I'd prefer not to say Headmaster," Hermione told him, keeping a cold edge to her voice but also managing to sound polite.

"Very well," Dumbledore concluded, "Well you must be on your way back to the common room, It seems that you're out after curfew."And with that Dumbledore walked out of the room, leaving behind a very confused Harry and seething Hermione.

"How dare he!" Hermione growled, trying to keep her emotions in check.

"What's wrong 'Mione?" Harry asked.

"That ... That ... That bloody Bastard," She screamed, ignoring the shocked faces of Harry, Ron and Neville.

"Hermione? What ARE you on about?" Ron asked, concerned with the behaviour his best friend was showing.

"He had no right. No Right. To ask us what we saw in that mirror, it's private and he shouldn't have pried like that," She hissed.

"I don't think that was his intention," Harry said, trying to calm her down.

"Of course it was," Hermione snapped, "What was with those questions Harry? He shouldn't have asked you, he knows that it must've been heart breaking to see Aunt L - your parents in there but he couldn't just give you some space." She hissed, mentally berating herself for almost slipping up and calling Lily and James, Aunt Lils and Uncle Jamie. She noticed out of the corner of her eye that Neville was staring at her strangely, almost as if analysing her.

"'Mione, honestly it's fine. I'm fine," Harry assured her, reaching over to squeeze her hand.

"I need to leave," Hermione sighed, her rage still boiling. She was trying her best to not take it out on her friends but if she didn't get away soon then she'd say something that she'd regret.

"But what about Filch?" Neville asked her, still looking at her strangely. Hermione hoped he hadn't noticed her slip, that would lead to some awkward conversations and she really didn't want to lie to him.

"I know where everyone is," She told them, before storming out of the room and slamming the door behind her.

"Bloody hell, what was that all about?" Ron cried in disbelief.

"I don't know Ron, I don't know," Harry replied sadly, "Whatever she saw in that mirror must've really freaked her out."

"No kidding," Ron scoffed.

"Come on, let's get going," Harry said, pulling the invisibility cloak over the three of them and exiting the room.

"Hopefully she'll be better tomorrow," Neville muttered, his brows creases as if in deep thought.

"Yeah hopefully Nev, hopefully."

...

"Hermione?" Severus asked, as an angry 12 year old burst into his quarters.

"I hate him," Hermione seethed, pacing up and down the room, in front of Severus, who had previously been marking essays in his arm chair.

"Hate who?" Severus asked calmly, trying to be rational about the whole situation until he knew what had happened.

"Dumbledore," She spat, stopping in front of he father and glaring at him crazily.

"What's he done?" Severus growled, chucking his papers to the side and leaning forward to hear her reply.

"Have you ever heard of the mirror of Erised?" Hermione asked, starting to pace again.

"Yes," Severus replied, "How do you know about it?"

"Well, Harry _conveniently_ found it over Christmas break and asked me to go see it with him," Hermione told him.

"What does this have to do with Dumbledore?" Severus questioned.

"He invaded our privacy! He turned up in the room and asked Harry what he was, do you know what he said? He said he saw Uncle Jamie, Aunt Lils, me and mum. Of course he didn't know it was me but he called mum Aunt Liv which prompted the old man to ask him if he saw another man besides Uncle Prongs. when Harry said no he asked again, this time specifying whether he was stood next to me and mum. Then he had the audacity to ask me what I saw in the mirror!" She screamed.

"You didn't tell him? Did you?"

"Of course I didn't! Why would I tell that old manipulative bastard -"

"Language." Severus warned, though his heart wasn't really in it.

"Sorry, but honestly, what's wrong with him! He also gave me this look when Harry mentioned mum, it was as if he knew. You know? It was like he knew that Harry was describing mum I bet he - wait ... it was like he knew," She muttered.

"What are you on about 'Mione?" Severus asked, shocked that she'd stopped mid rant.

"He knows," She mumbled, "HE KNOWS! He knows that that I'm mums daughter, he knows, how does he know? I thought you didn't tell any one but Aunt Lily, Aunt Marls, Aunt Alice, Uncle Prongs, Uncle Padfoot and Uncle Moony?"

"We didn't - wait, how'd you know about Black and Lupin?" Severus asked, he'd never told her about them or even mentioned them at all.

"I saw them in the mirror, and I ... I remembered all of them. I saw her dad, i actually got to see mum ... she's beautiful," Hermione sniffed, trying to keep the tears down.

"She is, just like you poppet," Severus said, smiling as memories of Olivia popped into his head.

"I miss her daddy," Hermione cried, suddenly flinging herself into his arms and sobbing into his chest.

Severus clung on tightly, trying to stop himself from crying along with his daughter. He hated that she had to go through all this pain, he wished he could help her, but he didn't know how. So he decided that stroking her hair slowly and rocking her in his arms was enough for the time being.

"I know you do poppet and I'm sorry that she can't be with us at the moment," Severus whispered to her.

"She'll be with us soon, you'll see. I'll make sure of that," Hermione sniffled, although the edge in her voice was determined the sadness overwhelmed her tone.

"Hermione ..." Severus warned, not wanting to get into this again.

"No, dad. Don't bother." Hermione told him, "Will you tell me about Uncle Padfoot and Uncle Moony?"

"Of course but why do you want to know?" Severus pondered.

"Well, I assumed that since I haven't heard about them that they must be alive and maybe I could meet them," She asked hopefully.

"Hermione ... I," Severus began.

"They're dead aren't they," She asked through gritted teeth.

"No, not dead."

"Then where are they?"

"Black or Uncle Padfoot, was sent to azkaban."

"Azkaban?"

"Yes, azkaban."

"But why?" Hermione managed to croak out, her mouth was getting dry and her eyes were welling up just at the thought of another member of her family being locked up in that hell hole.

"He betrayed James and Lily, he sold them out to the Dark Lord and then murdered Peter Pettigrew and 12 muggles not long after," Severus told her.

"I don't believe you," Hermione replied, tears spilling down her face. She was replaying all the memories that she had of Uncle Padfoot in her memories, he just seemed so care free, so nice, so innocent.

"Hermione, it's true." Severus informed her, struggling at seeing his little girl looking so heart broken over a real criminal.

"Stop." She growled, "What about Uncle Moony?"

"Nobody's seen him since the night James and Lily died."

"You mean murdered," Hermione spat, jumping up from her place on the sofa and pacing again, muttering about good for nothing death eaters and lies.

Severus didn't say anything and just sat waiting for Hermione to calm herself down. When she finally did, Severus walked over to her and took her hand in his.

"Calmed yourself down now?" He asked, Hermione merely nodded.

"Will you tell me more about mum?" She muttered.

"Of course, what do you want to know?" Severus asked, a smile gracing his lips.

"Did she have any talents? Like any cool tricks that she could do?" Hermione questioned excitedly, eager to learn more about her mum.

"Well she could sing amazingly, she never really liked to sing in front of others though. It gave her the shivers," He chuckled, Hermione giggled along to, glad to know that her mum had some fears.

"Anything else?" She asked.

"Well ... I could tell you but you can't repeat it," He warned her.

"Who am I going to tell?" Hermione joked.

"Okay, your mum is an unregistered animagus," Severus admitted.

"Really? Wow, that's so cool, What form did she take?" Hermione asked.

"A Squirrel," Severus said, laughing at the thought, "She's a light brown Squirrel and the fur on her tail was kind of curly, to match her human hair."

"Really?" Hermione said in awe.

"Really."

"Do you have any books on Animagus?" Hermione suddenly asked. Severus had to chuckle at this, of course she'd ask for a book.

"Let me get one," Severus told her, getting up and making his way over to the bookshelf. He picked a book of one of the shelves and handed it to Hermione.

"Page 197," He said.

Hermione flicked to the correct page and started reading.

 _ **Guide To Advanced Transfiguration**_

 _ **By Emerich Switch**_

 _ **An Animagus is a witch or wizard who can morph him or herself into an animal at will. It is learnt, rather than hereditary, unlike those of a Metamorphmagus. It takes practice, skill and patience for wizards and witches to become Animagi. The process of becoming an Animagus is long and arduous, and has the potential to backfire and cause transformation to go horribly wrong.**_

 _ **Animagi can only take on the form of one specific animal. For example, witches or wizards could take on the form of a species which is capable of flight, therefore, they can enjoy the sensation of flying without a broom, flying carpet, or riding on an animal such as a Hippogriff or Thestral. The animal form, however, is not chosen by the wizard, it is a representation of their personality and inner traits. It is a common misunderstanding that your Animagus form will be the same as your Patronus, this is not always the case. Many people have discovered that their Animagus is different to their Patronus, this is because your Patronus is affected by what is going on in your life and can change at any given moment, for example, if you were to fall in love with someone then you may change to match his/her Patronus or you may both change to an animal that represents the both of you as a couple. An Animagus is different in the sense that it is who you truly are, no matter what happens to you or who you think you are, your Animagus will never change and will always stay true to who you are inside.**_

 _ **Each Animagus bears an identifying mark on their animal form that is caused by something on their human body. This may be a physical trait like hair colour, or an acquired taste such as glasses. If an Animagus undergoes a major physical change in their human body, such as the loss of a limb, their animal form will also reflect that. In addition, an Animagus will appear to lose their clothing upon morphing if they are wearing clothing. The clothing will reappear upon re-establishing the human form. What happens to the clothing is unknown but there is a strong possibility that it is enchanted beforehand, and will morph/disappear with the person as they do so. Another explanation would be if the clothing was physically involved in the morphing, i.e. Transforming into the skin and fur of the animal form.**_

 _ **When in your animagus form you act more like the animals you morph into, you have less human thoughts and wish to act like the animal you transformed into, for example, if you were a cat then you'd have the urge to chase small animals or if you were an eagle then you may wish to fly more. Although all of your human thoughts are still present and you can still remember everything but a small part of your brain has become almost animalistic.**_

"Do you think I could become a -" Hermione began but then stopped as her eyes widened in excitement.

"Mione?"

"Do you have any books on Dementors? I have an idea but I just need to check if my information is correct," Hermione asked suddenly, she was smiling like crazy and Severus could see that her eyes held that glint in them, the same Olivia had, it meant she'd come up with an ingenious idea. Quickly Severus rushed over to the shelf and pulled out a book.

"I think it's page 43 or 44," He informed her.

"Thanks," Hermione muttered as she opened the book.

 _ **A Dementor is a non-being and Dark creature, considered one of the foulest to inhabit the world. Dementors feed upon human happiness, and thus cause depression and despair to anyone near them. They can also consume a person's soul, leaving their victims in a permanent vegetative state, and thus are often referred to as "soul-sucking fiends". They are known to leave a person as an 'empty-shell'.**_

 _ **There are certain defences one can use against Dementors, specifically the Patronus Charm. Dementors hold no true loyalty, except to whomever can provide them with the most people to feed off. They cannot be destroyed, though their numbers can be limited if the conditions in which they multiply are reduced, implying that they do die off eventually.**_

 _ **Being blind, Dementors sense and feed on the positive emotions of human beings in order to survive, forcing their victims to relive their worst memories over and over again. The very presence of a Dementor can make the victim's surrounding atmosphere grow cold and dark, and as the number of Dementors increase, so do the effects. Those that are kept in the company of a Dementor for too long tend to become depressed, and are often driven insane, which was the main source of Azkaban's well-deserved horrible reputation when they still guarded its prisoners.**_

 _ **Dementors rely fully on their ability to sense emotion and physical and/or mental health to track the movements of the prisoners in their care, and are generally unable to distinguish one person from another if both are in similar physical or mental condition.**_

"Bloody hell," Hermione whispered in amazement.

"What? What is it?" Severus asked, eager to know what Hermione had been referring to.

Ideas were swirling around Hermiones mind ... _Dementors sense and feed on the positive emotions of **human beings** ... you can still remember everything but a small part of your brain has become **almost animalistic** ... unable to **distinguish one person from another** if both are in **similar physical or mental condition** ... _

"I know how to get mum out."

* * *

 **Thank you so much for reading this chapter, I hope that you enjoyed it! If you have a few seconds I'd love it if you'd let me know what you thought of the chapter! REVIEWS WOULD BE APPRECIATED :)**

 **A/N: Unfortunately I'm not sure when the next time I update will be, I start my GCSE exams on Monday and am current;y revising like crazy. I will try and update asap, but please be prepared for it to take a a couple of weeks, sorry!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Here's the next chapter of 'It's A Twin Thing', thank you for all of the reviews and hope you enjoy this!**

 **Go check out my tumblr nympcdorafics .tumblr. com to ask questions and receive more info on the characters ect**

* * *

 _*Last Time*_

 _"Hermione?" Severus asked, as an angry 12 year old burst into his quarters._

 _"I hate him," Hermione seethed, pacing up and down the room, in front of Severus, who had previously been marking essays in his arm chair._

 _"Hate who?" Severus asked calmly, trying to be rational about the whole situation until he knew what had happened._

 _"Dumbledore," She spat, stopping in front of he father and glaring at him crazily._

 _..._

 _"Will you tell me more about mum?" Hermione asked._

 _"Of course, what do you want to know?" Severus asked, a smile gracing his lips._

 _"Did she have any talents? Like any cool tricks that she could do?" Hermione questioned excitedly, eager to learn more about her mum._

 _"Well she could sing amazingly, she never really liked to sing in front of strangers though. It gave her the shivers," He chuckled, Hermione giggled along to, glad to know that her mum had some fears._

 _"Anything else?" She asked._

 _"Well ... I could tell you but you can't repeat it," He warned her._

 _"Who am I going to tell?" Hermione joked._

 _"Okay, your mum is an unregistered animagus," Severus admitted._

 _"Really? Wow, that's so cool, What form did she take?" Hermione asked._

 _"A Squirell," Severus said, laughing at the thought, "She's a light brown Squirell and the fur on her tail was kind of curly, to match her human hair."_

 _..._

 _"Bloody hell," Hermione whispered in amazement._

 _"What? What is it?" Severus asked, eager to know what Hermione had been thinking of._

 _Ideas were swirling around Hermiones mind ... Dementors sense and feed on the positive emotions of human beings ... you can still remember everything but a small part of your brain has become almost animalistic ... unable to distinguish one person from another if both are in similar physical or mental condition ..._

 _"I know how to get mum out."_

 **Chapter 9**

"We're going in tonight," Harry said from across the table. It was now the beginning of June, and the last day of exams. A lot had happened since Christmas. There was the whole situation with Norbert ... now Norberta, where Ron had gotten bitten and her, Harry and Neville got caught on their way back from taking the dragon to Charlie's friends, losing them 150 points in the process; needless to say Gryffindor were not happy with the three of them at all.

It had been Rons birthday in March, they hadn't done much for it as they were preoccupied with school and trying to figure out how to stop the philosophers stone from being stolen.

Surprisingly, Hermione had started a friendship with Theo Nott, obviously she had kept this from the boys, but they were having study sessions in the library in preparation for the first year exams, Hermione was thinking about inviting Neville along, she knew he wasn't confident with magic but felt that the sessions would really help him improve.

Speaking of Neville, Hermione had realised that ever since the night they encountered the Mirror of Erised he'd been acting strange around her. At first she thought it was just the memories of Aunt Alice and Uncle Frank that had him being so weird but when she observed closer she realised that he was watching her constantly and always kept a close eye on her. She was having second thoughts about whether he'd heard her almost call Harrys' mum Aunt Lils, she was praying that it wasn't the case and he was just going through something else, because she really didn't want to lie to him about this.

As usual Harry had to pick the most awkward day to decide to do something heroic, he wanted to go after the philosophers stone. Not to mention that they had the History of Magic exam this morning and needed to have a clear mind if they ever wanted to try and stay awake in the exam, it was bound to be just as boring as the actual lesson.

"Tonight?" Hermione asked, she thought they'd choose tonight but she had to act surprised.

"Yeah, Dumbledore's gone off to the ministry so it's the perfect time for Snape to steal the stone!" Ron said excitedly, he really wanted to find out what was down there and what the stone actually looked like.

"Snape isn't the one stealing the stone Ronald." Hermione sighed exasperated, she'd try to steer both Harry and Ron off of their assumptions, but Ron still seemed adamant, while Harry seemed unsure over who the culprit was.

"It doesn't matter who's stealing the stone, all that matters is that we make sure it doesn't get stolen in the first place, no matter who it is that tries to take it," Harry told both of them, although he himself was curious as to who thethiefwas.

"Fine, we'll go tonight," Hermione agreed, "we're taking Neville though."

"Neville?" Ron asked, "he doesn't know anything about the stone, why would we bring him into the loop now?"

"We may need an extra hand Ron, would you rather I asked Theo to come with us?" She demanded, glaring at Ron, he really could be insensitive sometimes.

"Of course I don't want a Slytherin coming with us," Ron hissed, trying to keep his temper down.

Harry simply watched the two as they bickered over Slytherin not being evil, although he had learnt to accept Hermione being friends with Theo, it didn't mean he had to accept the fact that he was a Slytherin. He was coming around to the fact that Slytherin weren't as bad as they seemed, he was trying his best for Hermione because he really didn't want to lose her over something so stupid as what house her other friends were in.

"Cut it out you two," Harry sighed, "Ron, Hermione is friends with a Slytherin, deal with it. 'Mione, Neville is welcome to come with us, but only if he is willing, don't force him into anything." He warned.

"And why oh why would I do anything like that my dear Harry," Hermione chimed innocently.

"Says the girl who forced me to eat a bogey flavoured Bertie Botts," Ron scoffed, as Hermione and Harry both burst into laughter at the memory.

"What's so funny?" Neville asked, walking over to the trio and sitting himself down next to Hermione.

"They're laughing at my pain," Ron muttered, his face pale at reliving the memory of the day.

"He - He ate - B ... Bogey - Bean," Hermione chocked, her eyes filled with tears of laughter as her and Harry were bent over each other, laughing so hard they could hardly breath.

"Did Hermione force you?" Neville chuckled, a cheeky glint in his eyes.

"Hey! I didn't force him, I guided him in the right direction," She denied, before bursting into laughter once more at the look of mortification on Rons face.

"You forced him 'Mione, don't deny it," Harry laughed, finally sitting up and composing himself.

"Yeah well he picked me out an earwax one to eat, I thought it was butterbeer!" She exclaimed, pointing her finger at Ron accusingly.

"You made me eat a bogey one!" Ron retorted back.

"Karma is a bitch," Hermione said, winking at Ron mischievously before she turned to Neville and started talking about the upcoming exam.

"She swears worse than you Ronnikins," Fred chuckled from a few seats down.

"Tell me about it," Ron mumbled.

...

"Hermione!" came a voice from down the corridor, Hermione had just finished her history of magic exam, while Harry and Ron were talking to Neville about the plan for tonight she was walking through the dungeons on her way to go and talk to her dad. Turning around Hermione saw Theo running towards her from the other end of the corridor, a stupid grin plastered on his face.

"Hey Theo, everything alright?" Hermione chuckled, as Theo bent down to catch his breath.

"Yeah, just wanted to ask how the history of magic exam went?" He asked.

"That's all you wanted to talk about?" Hermione asked again, raising her eyebrow in question, knowing that Theo wasn't just here for that.

"Well, no, but I am curious," He replied sheepishly.

"Well I thought it was alright, question 12 caught me out but once I remembered the weapons the Goblins used it was a piece of cake. So what did you really want to ask me?" She asked.

"I was wondering if you wanted to maybe meet up in the holidays," He muttered.

"Really?" Hermione shrieked, surprised at how excited she was, then a thought struck her, "My um - parents, are muggle though, won't your dad not approve?" Hermione asked, aware that his dad was a Death Eater - or would be if Voldemort was alive.

"Oh he'd hate that I'm hanging out with a muggleborn, I don't care though, he doesn't have to know," He replied defiantly.

"Oh so I'm just your dirty little secret am I?" Hermione dead-panned, trying not to laugh at the look that passed across Theo's face.

"I - what? No - no of course not ... I didn't - No," He stumbled, his eyes wide with shock and face turning red with embarrassment.

"I was only joking Theo," Hermione choked, trying to control the laughter pouring from her mouth.

"Haha very funny," Theo said, his eyes glistening with mirth as he tried to pretend to be annoyed with Hermione.

"Sorry, couldn't resist. Anyway, what's the plan then?" Hermione asked, the laughter having died away.

"Well my father's going on a business trip one week, he usually leaves me at home so I was thinking you could come around then, maybe I could come to yours?"

"It would probably be best if I came to yours," Hermione mumbled, not wanting to have to explain to Theo why the Grangers treated her like they did.

"Okay, great. We'll sort it out soon, why are you down here anyway?" Theo asked, only just realising that she was in the dungeons by herself and seemed to actually know where she was going.

"Oh - um - I was just ..." Hermione stuttered, trying to come up with a good excuse.

"There you are Miss Granger, you're 5 minutes late for your detention." drawled Severus, who'd just stepped out from the shadows and was now towering over the two students.

"I'm sorry Sir, I lost my way, Theo was just directing me in the right direction."

"No matter, 5 points from Gryffindor. Mr Nott you may go back to the common room, Miss Granger follow me."

"Yes Sir, bye Theo we'll talk later," Hermione called, following behind her father as he lead her to his quarters.

"Did you really have to take points from Gryffindor Dad?" Hermione wondered, annoyed that they'd lost 5 points.

"Did you want Mr Nott to get suspicious?" Severus replied, looking down at her expectantly.

"No, I suppose not," Hermione pouted, "You can call him Theo you know, he's my friend."

"Mr Nott is a student, therefore, I will address him as such."

"I'm a student too," Hermione protested.

"Do I not call you Miss Granger when appropriate?" Severus asked.

"Yeah,"

"There we go then."

"Wish I wasn't called Granger though," Hermione mumbled, looking down as she scuffed her feet along the floor.

"What was that?" Severus asked, having caught what she said but not wanting to push her if she wasn't ready to share.

"I said I wish I wasn't called Granger," She repeated, her voice stronger this time. Severus sighed, luckily he'd just reached the door and motioned for Hermione to go in before him. Hermione perched herself on her armchair, before waiting to see how her father would respond.

"Poppet, I know you might want to change your name but we can't, not at the moment."

"Why not? I'm proud to be the daughter of a Potter and a Snape, I want to be recognised as the person I am, I want to stop pretending daddy!" Hermione sobbed, all of the emotions she was keeping under wraps finally rising to the surface, to the point where it all became too much and her emotions overflowed like a treasure chest.

"Poppet, don't cry. Come here," Severus cooed, reaching his arms out to capture his daughter as she flung herself into his arms.

"I - don't want to be Hermione Granger - the - the mudblood. I want to be Hermione Potter-Snape, The daughter of - of Severus and Olivia." Hermione bawled, trying her best to get her sentence out.

"You have no idea how bad I want the world to know that you're my daughter, you're the most amazing, beautiful, intelligent, stubborn witch and I love you so much."

"I know why I can't change my last name but I can't help but want it so bad, i want it so bad it hurts."

"I know Poppet, I know," Severus responded, cradling her in his lap and just holding her. The two of them sat there for what felt like hours but in reality had only been 20 minutes.

"Are you okay now?" Severus asked her softly, receiving a nod from Hermione who was still buried in his robes.

"I'll be alright," Hermione sniffled, standing up and walking into the bathroom to sort her face out. Severus waited for his daughter to reemerge and smiled sadly as she walked back out, looking as if everything was fine.

"You're too young to be using makeup charms," Severus told her, though his heart really wasn't in it.

"It helps to hide the black circles," Hermione told him, shrugging her shoulders as if it were no big deal.

"You still not sleeping well?" Severus asked, concern lacing his voice.

"No, I keep having dreams about everyone, about mum and Uncle Padfoot, about Aunt Lils and Uncle Jamie. I miss them all so much," Hermione sighed, willing herself not to cry again.

"We'll sort it all out poppet, I promise we'll be happy again," Severus reassured her, reaching over to squeeze her hand.

"I love you dad," Hermione said, giving Severus a kiss on the cheek and smiling at him.

"And I love you Poppet, more than you could ever know."

...

"You guy's ready?" Harry asked, looking to the three people who were walking next to him. The four of them were on their way to the third floor corridor, Hermione had learnt how to play a soothing song from her wand to send Fluffy to sleep and they felt like they were prepared to take on the dog.

"Yes Harry, can we hurry up please?" Hermione asked impatiently, in all honesty she really wasn't in the mood, her visit to see Severus had drained her emotionally and physically and all she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and sleep. While Ron didn't seem to realise her mood, Harry and Neville had definitely noticed.

As they were walking Harry caught Nevilles' eye and motioned towards Hermione who was walking slightly behind them, her head downcast and her eyes dead. Neville got the hint and slowed down a bit to walk beside her.

"Hey 'Mione, what's up?" Neville asked, keeping his voice low.

"Nothing Neville, I'm just a bit tired is all," Hermione assured him, trying to give him a reassuring smile which obviously failed.

"I know you're not Hermione, ever since the night we saw the mirror you've been sad. Nobody else may have noticed but me and Harry have been watching you retreat into your shell more, you spend more time in the library and searching for things we don't understand. We hardly see you anymore," Neville told her sadly, trying to convey to her how he and the others were feeling.

"Neville, what I saw in the mirror, it shook me up. I know you saw Aun - your mum and dad, I saw mine too," Hermione replied.

"That's another thing I've noticed, you keep slipping up on names. you almost called Harrys mum Aunt the other day and you keep nearly calling my mum Aunt as well, why? What are you keeping from us?"

"Neville please, can we not talk about this now? I know you're confused, that you don't know some things about me, I really don't want to lie to you but if you keep asking I'm going to have to." Hermione pleaded, not wanting to betray his trust by lying.

"If that's what you want," Neville said, realising that this was more than she was letting on and that she'd tell them in her own time, "In case you were wondering Harry and Ron haven't picked up on the slips and I won't tell them until you're ready."

"Thank you Neville, you really are the best," Hermione whispered, pulling him in for a hug.

"I don't understand why you're keeping this a secret, it must be important and I know you'll tell us when you're ready. I trust you 'Mione, don't forget that." Neville told her, squeezing her arm before the moment was interrupted by Ron exclaiming that they'd made it to the third floor corridor.

"The two of you alright?" Harry asked before they went into the corridor.

"Everything's great Harry," Hermione replied, this time her happiness was genuine. She was elated that Neville had reacted that way towards her keeping her secret, it gave her hope and ignited the little spark of happiness that was dying in her heart.

"Good," Harry replied, smiling warmly at Hermione and sending an appreciative look towards Neville, who simply inclined his head in acceptance.

"Okay, let's go then." Harry said, opening the door before ushering the other in before him.

"Okay, so I'll start playing the music now, I'll open the door a smidge and Fluffy should fall asleep, if not then plan B is I'll sing and see if that works," Hermione explained, getting her wand ready to play the music.

"Wait," said Ron, putting his hand up to signal everyone to stop, "do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Neville asked, curious as to what Ron was going about.

"It's music," Hermione said, quickly hurrying to door which held Fluffy and gasping in shock, her face turning pale.

"No," She muttered, "No, no no no, this can't be happening."

"'Mione?" Harry called, running over with Ron and Neville following, freezing when he too saw what Hermione was staring at. A harp was playing soft music, while Fluffy lay asleep on the floor and the trapdoor was wide open.

"Quick, let's go!" Hermione said, rushing towards the trap door and jumping down.

"Did she just -" Ron muttered, in awe that she would just jump down without any idea what was there.

"She did." Neville replied, watching as Harry too didn't hesitate as he jumped down after Hermione.

"Well we better get going then," Ron said nervously, edging towards the trap door.

"Oh just hurry up Ron," Neville sighed, pushing Ron down the trap door when he wouldn't budge, "here goes nothing," Neville said to himself as he jumped down the trap door, his fall broken by something soft.

"Guys?" Neville called, looking around to find Hermione, Harry and Ron struggling against what looked like vines.

"What the bloody hell is this?" Ron screeched, trying - and failing - to escape from the vines that were tightening around him.

"It's devils snare," Neville shouted, "everyone needs to calm down, the more you struggle the tighter they will attach themselves."

"Ronald!" Hermione yelled, "stopped moving!"

"Why the bloody hell would I do that, they're strangling me!" Ron hollered, obviously not having heard Neville. Just as Hermione was about to explain Neville disappeared beneath the devils snare, seeming to just melt into them. Hermione knew that they'd let him go because he kept still but, alas, Ron had no clue.

"Neville! Neville! Where'd he go? Neville!" Ron screamed, a look of terror taking over his features as he realised Neville had disappeared.

"Ron! Relax, the vines will let you go!" Neville cried from somewhere above them.

"How the bloody hell am I supposed to relax?!" Ron shrieked, struggling even harder when he saw both Harry and Hermione melt into the vines.

"Neville he's not going to calm down," Hermione sighed, looking at Neville who was trying to scream at Ron and tell him what to do.

"They're sensitive to light," Neville told her, "try casting something that will make them let him go."

Hermione racked her brains for a spell, whipping out her wand when one came to mind, "lumos solem" she cried, pointing her wand towards the vines wrapped around Ron.

"Finally, where the hell did you three go? You scared me half to death!" Ron screamed, waving his arms around in a panic.

"Ron! We told you to calm down," Harry said, patting his friend on the back to try and calm him down.

"I know , but all of you disappeared, I panicked, I couldn't calm down," Ron said, his voice getting higher and his breathing more erratic. Hermione quickly walked over to him and pulled him into a hug.

"We're fine Ron, we're fine." Hermione assured him, not saying anything when she felt a tears splash on to her shoulder. Luckily, Ron was facing away from Harry and Neville so they couldn't see him cry - Hermione was sure he'd feel embarrassed.

"Sorry, I just panicked," He repeated, looking Hermione in the eyes and smiling at her graciously.

"It's alright Ron, how about we get going?" Harry said, grabbing Neville and leading him towards the next door while Hermione wiped away a tear from Rons face before taking his hand and taking him the same way as Neville and Harry.

"Wow," Harry exclaimed, while the other three had to stifle a gasp at the sight in front of them. As they entered the room they were met with the sight of what must've been a thousand keys flying around above them, the sound of their wings a rhythmic beat. As the four of them made their way across the room they noticed two broomsticks propped up against the wall and a large door next to them.

"Someone left the door unlocked," Hermione said, in awe of how stupid the thief could be.

"They must be really unhinged, did they think no-one would try and follow them?" Neville questioned, shocked at the revelation that the thief could be so idiotic.

"Snape is so arrogant, to think that he believed nobody would find out what he was up to and follow him," Ron said, rolling his eyes in exasperation.

"How many times do I have to tell you that it's not Snape!" Hermione hissed, storming off into the next room. When she entered, she stopped and had to refrain from gagging, the smell that imprisoned her senses was overwhelming. As the others walked in, they too had to stop themselves from gagging, although Ron seemed unable to hold it in.

"Over there," Neville gasped, noticing the carcasses of two dead mountain trolls in the corner.

"Let's get out of here," Harry coughed, grabbing Hermiones hand and dragging her towards the door on the other side of the room, Neville and Ron behind them.

"Oh my god that was vile," Hermione spluttered, rubbing at her nose as if it were infected.

"Tell me about it," Harry said, taking gasping breaths and savouring the clean air.

"Guys, I think Ron's in love," Neville sniggered.

"In love?" Hermione asked, turning around and trying not to laugh at the expression on Rons face. There in front of them was the biggest chess board ever, Ron was currently stood in front of it, his mouth open wide and eyes transfixed on the chess set.

"Are you in love Ron?" Hermione sang, skipping up to him and laughing when he shook his head and jumped at the sight of her; he obviously wasn't aware of her presence, all of his attention being on the chess board.

"It's just so - I mean - bloody hell," Ron muttered, running his hands through his hair - earning him another snigger from the others.

"It seems we have to play if we want to cross," Neville said, motioning to the guards which stood in front of the next door.

"Well Ron, it looks like your time has finally arrived, lead the way," Harry said, grinning at his friend as he surveyed the board.

"Okay, so three pieces are missing off the board. The bishop, the knight and the queen side castle." Ron told them, his voice commanding and confident, he was most definitely in his element. "Harry you're going to be the bishop, Neville the knight and 'Mione you can be the queen side castle."

The three of them moved to the spaces Ron had given them and proceeded to play the game with Ron telling the pieces - and themselves - where to go in order to win the game. It seemed that the white queen was winning, she'd just taken out three of their men and she could tell that Ron was battling with something.

"Ron do whatever you need to win this," Hermione called, noticing the stress lines on his face at the decision she was certain he was about to make.

"Neville, mate. We need you to get taken out, if you go then Harry can get check mate and we'll win," Ron called over to Neville, who had a brief flash of fear cross his features before they were quickly morphed into that of determination.

"Tell me where to go and I'll go," Neville said, his voice like steel.

"Knight to H3," Ron shouted, watching in horror as the Queen moved towards the newly placed Knight. In a rush of movement the Queen had obliterated the knight, sending Neville flying onto the floor. Luckily, after hearing Neville and Ron shout at each other, Hermione had taken out her wand and placed a cushioning charm on the floor beneath Neville; softening his fall.

"Good thinking 'Mione!" Harry called, happy that she had the brains to think of that, if she hadn't then Harry dreaded to think what injuries Neville may have sustained.

"Thanks 'Mione," Neville shouted from his place on the floor.

"Let's finish this Ron!" Harry said, nodding at Ron in determination. Ron called out his final move, Harry moved and cried out in excitement when the guards on the door moved aside. Hermione, Ron and Neville ran over to stand by his side as they looked at the door.

"How many more do you think are left?" Neville asked, staring at the door in painful anticipation.

"Not very many," Hermione told them, "I think the teachers had a protection each."

"Professor Sprout must've been the devils snare," Neville said.

"Flitwick the keys," Ron mumbled.

"Quirrell the trolls," said Harry.

"This was transfiguration, so that's McGonagall," Hermione finished.

"So we have Snape and Dumbledore left?" Harry asked, thinking of the teachers that would be in on this.

"Yeah and Fluffy would've been Hagrids protection," Neville inputted.

"Okay so we have one, possibly two protections left." Ron said, still hooked on the idea that Snape was the one trying to steal the stone.

"We best get going then," Hermione sighed, quite fed up with all the tests at the moment.

As the four of them entered they took hold of each others hands, the room was pitch black, the only thing visible was a table in the middle of the room, on it were a collection ofbottles. As they all walked over they jumped at the sudden whoosh of noise that enveloped the room.

"Great, we're trapped," Ron moaned, looking at the walls of flames which had erupted in front of the entrance and exit.

"It's a riddle," Hermione called out, showing the boys the piece of parchment that had just shown up when the flames sprang to life.

 _Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,_

 _Two of us will help you, whichever you would find,_

 _One among us seven will let you move ahead,_

 _Another will transport the drinker back instead,_

 _Two among our number hold only nettle wine,_

 _Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line._

 _Choose, unless you wish to stay here for evermore,_

 _To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:_

 _First, however slyly the poison tries to hide_

 _You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;_

 _Second, different are those who stand at either end,_

 _But if you would move onwards, neither is your friend;_

 _Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,_

 _Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;_

 _Fourth, the second left and the second on the right_

 _Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight_.

"'Mione?" Harry asked, knowing that she was the only one capable of figuring out the riddle they were presented with.

"Since the giant bottle is not poison and it is a twin to the second from the left, we know these two are nettle wine ... therefore two of the poisons are to the left of these ... the ones at each end are different and since we know the left end is poison, both nettle wines have been found, and it will not help you move onwards, so that means that the - the rightmost bottle sends you back ... this leaves 2 bottles and we know the dwarf is not poison, so it must be the one to move ahead" Hermione said, proud of herself for thinking of the solutions so quickly.

"The seventh one sends us back from where we came and the third one send us into the next room," Hermione tells them.

"I'm not going back," Neville says, "I won't leave any of you,"

"Me neither," Ron agrees, knowing that if they had to pick it would've been Hermione and Harry that went forward and him and Neville back.

"There is only enough for two people to drink each potion," Hermione says regretfully, wishing that they could come with her and Harry.

"Why don't you just use a doubling charm?" Neville asked.

"Merlin, of course! Neville that's genius, I can't believe I didn't think of that," Hermione cried, shocked that the thought hadn't crossed her mind.

"No worries 'Mione," Neville replied, blushing at her praise.

"Gemino" Hermione muttered, pointing her wand at potion number three, watching as the bottle duplicated, Harry catching the double in his hand.

"Bottoms up," He joked, as he took a sip from the bottle, before handing it to Neville. Hermione doing the same with hers before handing it to Ron.

Without a word the four of them moved towards the door, Harry going first as they walked through.

"Guys no!" Harry called, but it was too late. Hermione, Neville and Ron were hit with a blinding light as they made their way into the room. It all happened in a flurry and before they knew it the three of them were against the back wall, bound tightly in ropes, their mouths gagged and wands on the floor by the thiefs feet.

"Let them go!" Harry screamed, rushing over to his friends only to be propelled back by a spell from the thief.

"Come along Potter, we can't have your friends interfering," A sneering voice said, Harry turned around and recoiled in disgust and anger.

"Quirrel?" Harry asked, watching as the man smirked at him, before raising his wand as if to attack.

"No, let me speak to the boy," came another voice, this one muffled and high pitched. It sent chills down Harrys' back and the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

"But master you are not -"

"SILENCE! I said let me speak to the boy, are you disobeying your master Quirrel?" shrieked the deadly voice.

"Of course not master," Quirrel muttered, reaching around to untie the turban from his head and moving his body so that he was no longer facing Harry. A gasp escaped Harrys' mouth and Hermione could be seen struggling in her bonds, her face red with anger and her eyes blazing with an icy fire.

"Harry Potter, we meet again," Voldemort sneered, his red eyes boring into Harry, looking into his very soul.

"You!" Harry screamed, his hands balled into fists at his side as he tried to control the imminent rage that was bubbling up inside of him.

"Yes, it is I, Lord Voldemort, did you think I could be defeated by a mere boy Potter?" He spat.

"Master, the stone," Quirrel muttered, trembling with fear at his masters reaction to his interference.

"Ah, but of course. I almost forgot what we were here for," Voldemort smiled, his smile a sickly poison that ingrained itself in your mind and reminded you of all your darkest memories.

"The stone Potter, where is it?"

"Stone? I - I don't know what you're talking about," Harry told him, grasping his wand tightly in anticipation of his attack.

"You know where it is! Tell me!" Voldemort screamed.

"I - I don't, I swear it."

"The mirror Master."

"Stand in front of the mirror boy," Voldemort snapped, getting impatient and wanting the stone for himself. Harry looked over at Hermione helplessly, she merely nodded, letting him know that he should do what he's told for the time being. She was working on undoing her magical bindings and had nearly gotten rid of them all, she just needed a bit more time.

"NOW!" Voldemort seethed. Hesitantly, Harry made his way over to the mirror and was surprised when he didn't see his family but instead himself placing the philosophers stone in his pocket. He almost jumped when he felt a weight suddenly appear in his right pocket but managed to refrain himself from reacting.

"Well! What do you see?"

"I see my family, we're all together, we're happy."

"LIAR!"

"No, it -it's true," Harry assured him, trying to sound as truthful as possible.

"Don't lie to my master Potter, expelliarmus," Quirrel shouted, and Harrys wand came flying into his outstretched hand. Hermione knew what was going to happen next, she'd just broken the magical bonds that had restrained her and before she knew it she was up and running towards Harry just as the words left Quirrels mouth.

"Crucio"

Harry watched as the light came speeding towards him and closed his eyes, waiting for the pain to hit him; yet it never came.

An ear-splitting scream echoed around the room, Harry looked down and tears sprung to his eyes as he saw Hermione on the floor, her body writhing in pain and her eyes wide with fear.

Hermione felt like her whole body was on fire, she couldn't breath and the pain that ripped through her body was like a thousand tiny needles that wouldn't stop. She couldn't hold back the scream that tore through her throat, tears streaming effortlessly down her face as the feeling of fire felt as if it would never cease.

Finally the pain subsided but the scars were clear for everyone to see, Hermione felt helpless, the only thing keeping her going was the fact that Harry didn't have to endure what she just experienced.

"Oh dear, did your mudblood get in the way? Maybe I'll just have to curse her again, you seemed to enjoy her screams so much."

The last thing Hermione saw before blacking out was the look of fury on Harrys face as he ran towards Quirrelmort and burnt him with his bare hands.

* * *

 **Thank you so much for reading this chapter, I hope that you enjoyed it! If you have a few seconds I'd love it if you'd let me know what you thought of the chapter! REVIEWS WOULD BE APPRECIATED :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**_Here's the next chapter of 'It's A Twin Thing', so sorry for not updating sooner but it's summer know so hopefully I should be able to write more often!_**

 ** _Thank you so much for all the reviews, they honestly mean the world, you're all so amazing!_**

* * *

 _*Last Time*_

 _"Hermione!" came a voice from down the corridor, Hermione had just finished her history of magic exam, while Harry and Ron were talking to Neville about the plan for tonight she was walking through the dungeons on her way to go and talk to her dad. Turning around Hermione saw Theo running towards her from the other end of the corridor, a stupid grin plastered on his face._

 _"Hey Theo, everything alright?" Hermione chuckled, as Theo bent down to catch his breath._

 _"Yeah, just wanted to ask how to history of magic exam went?" He asked._

 _"That's all you wanted to talk about?" Hermione asked again, raising her eyebrow in question, knowing that Theo wasn't just here for that._

 _"Well, no, but I am curious," He replied sheepishly._

 _"Well I thought it was alright, question 12 caught me out but once I remembered the weapons the Goblins used it was a piece of cake. So what did you really want to ask me?" She asked._

 _"I was wondering if you wanted to maybe meet up in the holidays," He muttered._

 _"Really?" Hermione shrieked, surprised at how excited she was, then a thought struck her, "My um - parents, are muggle though, won't your dad not approve?" Hermione asked, aware that his dad was a Death Eater - or would be if Voldemort was alive._

 _"Oh he'd hate that I'm hanging out with a muggleborn, I don't care though, he doesn't have to know," He replied defiantly._

 _..._

 _I - don't want to be Hermione Granger - the - the mudblood. I want to be Hermione Potter-Snape, The daughter of - of Severus and Olivia." Hermione bawled, trying her best to get her sentence out._

 _"You have no idea how bad I want the world to know that you're my daughter, you're the most amazing, beautiful, intelligent, stubborn witch and I love you so much."_

 _"I know why I can't change my last name but I can't help but want it so bad, i want it so bad it hurts."_

 _"I know Poppet, I know," Severus responded, cradling her in his lap and just holding her. The two of them sat there for what felt like hours but in reality had only been half an hour._

 _..._

 _"Crucio"_

 _Harry watched as the light came speeding towards hims and closed his eyes, waiting for the pain to hit him; yet it never came._

 _An ear-splitting scream echoed around the room, Harry looked down and tears sprung to his eyes as he saw Hermione on the floor, her body writhing in pain and her eyes wide with fear._

 _Hermione felt like her whole body was on fire, she couldn't breath and the pain that ripped through her body was like a thousand tiny needles that wouldn't stop. She couldn't hold back the scream that tore through her throat, the tears streamed effortlessly down her face and it felt as if the fire would never die._

 _Finally the pain subsided but the scars were clear for everyone to see, Hermione felt helpless, the only thing keeping her going was the fact that Harry didn't have to endure what she just experienced._

 _"Oh dear, did your mudblood get in the way? Maybe I'l curse her again, you seemed to enjoy her screams so much."_

 _The last thing Hermione saw before blacking out was the look of fury on Harrys face as he ran towards Quirrelmort and burnt him with his are hands._

 **Chapter 10**

To say that the start of Hermiones' summer had been boring would be an understatement, it was worse than having to sit through one of Binns History of Magic classes - and that was saying something! Ever since she'd arrived back to the Grangers life had been bleak, she'd had her daily chores handed to her, aka all the chores, and each day was the same. Get up, eat the leftover breakfast, do chores, have lunch with Martha, do her homework before the Grangers arrive home, make dinner and sit down with the Grangers in an uncomfortable silence while the three of them ate. Some may say this was cruel, but in Hermiones eyes it was normal life, at least she was fed well and had a roof above her head - it was better than some.

The evenings were the only real time that Hermione had to herself, she spent it reading and building on the knowledge she already knew about the magical world. Hermione would definitely say that evenings were her favourite time of the day; the Grangers were asleep, the neighbourhood was silent and she could finally be herself and feel all the emotions she should be feeling after the events that transpired the previous school year.

Currently, Hermione was sat on the roof of the house, this had become a daily occurrence for her. It was a place where she could just sit and relax, a place where she could just be herself. At this current moment she was debating with herself, it was currently 5pm and the Grangers had left to go visit some friends for the weekend. They'd left about an hour ago, in that hour Hermione had written a letter to her dad. He'd sent her a letter this morning but she'd only had time to write him a reply after the Grangers departure. Giving the letter she had to Hades - Severus' pitch, black owl - she stroked it before saying a farewell and watching it fly off to Hogwarts. As she watched the bird fly into the distance she thought more about her situation.

"Don't do it Hermione," She warned herself, knowing that it wasn't one of her brighter ideas.

The thing that she was trying to stop herself from doing? Going to Diagon Alley. She wanted so badly to just go somewhere magical, she felt disconnected from the magical world and wanted to go somewhere where she could feel close to it again. Not only that but she was eager to get herself an owl, then she'd be able to send people owls when she pleased instead of having to wait for them to send her one first.

That was the biggest reason, she hadn't heard from Harry since they left each other at the train station. After the events with the Philosophers stone Hermione had been in the Hospital wing for about a week. Severus was fuming with her, at first he'd been concerned - obviously, I mean she'd just been put under the torture curse - but once he realised she was alright he'd lost it. His shouting was only placated when Minerva burst through the doors and gave him a piece of her mind. Telling him that Hermione had jumped in front of the curse to stop it from hitting Harry, that she was brave for doing it and only jumped in front of it out of love.

After that catastrophe Hermione had been released from the hospital wing and to say that Harry, Ron and Neville hadn't been protective of her would be lying. They followed her everywhere and didn't want to let her out of their sight. Even Theo was more protective after she told him what happened. This is what confused Hermione; Neville, Theo and Ron had been sending letters none stop for the past week but she hadn't heard anything from Harry.

"That's it, I'm going," Hermione said, standing up and making her way off the roof and towards the front door.

"Martha! I'm going out for a bit, I should be back later this evening!" Hermione cried, hoping that Martha had heard her and wouldn't get worried.

Grabbing some money from her room Hermione left the house, making her way towards the train station. It would take her roughly half an hour on the train and then she'd just have to walk the rest of the way to Diagon Alley, it really wasn't that long and if she hurried then she'd be able to make it in time for the shops to still be open.

When Hermione got to the underground she was lucky enough for a train to already be waiting to be boarded. Hopping on Hermione sat down, waiting for it to stop. She only had to change a couple more times and walk about 10 minutes before she made it to the Leaky Cauldron.

"Hi Tom," Hermione chirped, she'd talked to the barman for a while on her first visit and never forgot to greet him when she walked through.

"'Ello there Hermione, you're out a bit late aren't ya?" Tom replied from behind the bar.

"Yeah, but I was thinking of getting an owl and didn't want to wait till tomorrow!" Hermione replied, giving him a little wave as she made her way out into the alley. Walking out Hermione looked around for anyone she could know before making her way towards Eeylops Owl Emporium.

As she walked in, a little bell sounded above the door, alerting Mr Eeylop to her presence.

"Hello young Lady, we close in 10 minutes," He said gruffly, although his tone was friendly.

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't know!" Hermione replied apologetically, "I was just looking to purchase an owl, if it's too much hassle I can return tomorrow."

"No worries my dear, you're here now. Go look at the owls and I'll get you everything you need to care for it," Mr Eeylops told her, smiling kindly at her before retreating through a door in the back.

As he left Hermione made her way to the birds at the left of the store, as she was looking one bird in particular caught her eye. Unlike the others this owl wasn't sat still in it's cage but was thrashing around, obviously bored of being cooped up. It was beautiful, it's eyes were a deep green and feathers a sandy brown colour, with white markings on its face, tail feathers and chest. when Hermione approached it the bird stopped thrashing and stared into her eyes, before cocking it's head to the side and letting out a little chirp, causing Hermione to giggle at its antics.

"Wow, she's never behaved like that before." Mr Eeylops said, his arrival causing Hermione to jump in surprise. "Oh sorry dear, I didn't mean to scare you."

"Don't worry about it sir, I think I'll take this little one," Hermione replied, taking the bag of supplies that the old man gave to her.

"Here you go," Mr Eeylops said, handing the cage over to Hermione.

"Thank you sir, are you able to charge this to my Gringotts account?"

"Of course," Mr Eeylops responded, making his way over to the counter as Hermione followed behind him. When the transaction was complete Hermione bid farewell to Mr Eeylops, before leaving Diagon Alley and making her way back to the underground.

While on the train home Hermione stroked the owl softly behind it's ear, people were staring at her weirdly and most kept their distance as she sat and talked to the owl.

"I think I'll call you Amaya," Hermione told her, chuckling when she received an appreciative hoot from the Barn Owl.

...

It was now Sunday and Hermione had decided that she was just going to try and call Harry, she wanted to talk to him badly and had managed to get his house number off him with a lot of persuasion.

"The Dursley Residence, who's calling?" Came a gruff voice from the other end of the line.

"Hi, this is Hermione Granger. I'm calling to talk to your nephew Harry, I'm a friend from school," Hermione replied politely, trying to make a good first impression on Harrys' relatives.

"No!" The voice hollered, "We don't want any of you freaks calling us! The boy won't be talking to you, we have enough freakishness to deal with as it is."

"Wait! I just want to -" Hermione spluttered, not believing what she'd just heard, before she could finish her sentence the line went dead as the other end hung up. A million thoughts were spiralling around Hermiones' head:

 _Who was that man? Harrys' Uncle? What had he meant by freaks? Is that what he called Harry? A freak? How dare he!_

"That good for nothing bastard!" Hermione shouted into the empty house, magic trickling from her core, setting her hair on end as sparks literally crackled at her fingertips. She was trying her best to contain the rage bubbling in her, how dare that man call her cousin a freak. He was the best person she'd ever met, her own blood, and that man dared to call him such a derogatory name.

"HERMIONE!?" Cried a startled voice, whirling around Hermione was surprised to see a ghost white Martha staring at her with wide eyes and a slack jaw.

"Martha, I can explain," Hermione said, her voice strained as she tried to control her magic.

"You're a witch? Why didn't you tell me?" Martha asked, watching Hermione warily as she continued to try and leash her magic. Hermione didn't reply straight away, her magic was mostly under control now, even though her anger at Harrys' relatives still stayed prominent in her mind.

"You're a muggle I didn't - Wait. What? How do you know I'm a witch?" Hermione asked, stunned that Martha knew straight away what her magic was.

"How about we go and sit down, then I'll explain everything," Martha suggested, gesturing for Hermione to follow her as she made her way into the living room.

"Sit," Martha told her, when Hermione simply stood next to the sofa, trying desperately to get her head around everything that had just happened.

"Martha, how do you know?" Hermione asked, her eyes fastening onto Martha as she sighed and smiled tiredly at Hermione.

"I'm a Squib," Martha informed her, smiling at her sadly, "I understand if you don't want to talk to me now but -"

"Wait, why wouldn't I want to talk to you? This is great! Now I can talk to you about the wizarding world and everything I do at Hogwarts!" Hermione replied excitedly.

"You don't hate me?" Martha asked perplexed.

"No why would I?" Hermione wondered, moving to sit next to Martha, reaching out to take her hand.

"My family rejected me. My mother gave me to an orphanage when I didn't receeve my Hogwarts letter. She hated me, her and my brother. Father had always loved me, I was his little Princess, he would always pretend that I'd done accidental magic around him so that mother wouldn't get angry. He died when I was 10. Mother was so smug when I didn't receive my letter, her and Peter ridiculed me, then dumped me at a muggle orphanage," Martha sobbed, clutching onto Hermiones' hand as tears ran down her face. "I miss him every day, my dad, I wish he'd stayed with me, he was the only thing that kept me going. I love him so much, I don't think I could love anyone more than I love him."

"I know how you feel," Hermione muttered, thinking of Severus and the love she felt towards him as her father.

"Really? Mr Granger is awful to you though," Martha replied, her voice shrill as she voiced her opinion.

"He's not my father," Hermione said, "My real father is a wizard, I found him when I started Hogwarts," Hermione informed her, smiling fondly at the memory.

"The Grangers aren't your parents? Oh Hermione that's wonderful!" Martha exclaimed, hugging Hermione in excitement.

"No, his name is Severus. I'll tell you the whole story soon but first we need to discuss you," Hermione said sternly, though there was no malice in her words. "I don't care that you're a squib, I didn't care when I thought you were a muggle, so why would I care now? You're the sister I never had, I love you so much Mar, how could you even think that I'd ever hate you?"

"My mother did, that's all I've known since my dad died. I love you like a little sis too Mia," Martha said tearfully, pulling Hermiones hand up to kiss her knuckles.

"Why were your mother and brother so mean to you?" Hermione asked, squeezing Marthas' hand in reassurance.

"We're a pureblood family, The Pettigrews, my mother didn't want a Squib as a daughter, not only that but my father loved me more than he did her, she was jealous I suppose. I never truly did understand but from what I did know my mother and fathers marriage were arranged, he never did like her but she was infatuated with him. I wouldn't call it love because it most definitely was not but she obsessed with the notion that he loved her, that he'd do anything for her and give her whatever she wanted. He abhorred that she was so clingy but entertained it for a couple of years. They had Peter, and for a while they were happy but mother wanted a daughter, a little girl she could love just as much as she did her son. Father always said that she had loved me, for the first 3 years she loved me unconditionally but that changed when she'd never seen me do magic, when Father would spoil me and love me more than he did her."

"Mar, that's awful! Why didn't you ever tell me?" Hermione asked, tears streaming down her face as Martha told her story.

"I thought you were a muggle," She shrugged, trying to control her emotions.

"Fair enough, it's the same reason I never told you about Hogwarts," She nodded in understanding, then she froze, had she said that she was a Pettigrew?

"You alright Mia?" Martha asked, noticing the fact that she'd frozen in place.

"You said you were a Pettigrew?"

"Yes, why?"

"Your brother, is Peter Pettigrew?"

"Yes, Peter Pettigrew. A right bastard he was, he was such an idiot he got himself killed."

"He was murdered wasn't he? By Sirius Black," Hermione stated, not wanting to look Martha in the eyes.

"By his own friend, he probably found out what a rat he was and killed him in a rage."

"A rat? Why would he be a rat to his friends, he was there friend right?" Hermione asked, maybe Martha knew more and it would help her free Uncle Pads.

"Oh Peter never was one for friends, he used people. Made them think that he was worthless and knew nothing, then they'd become his friends and he'd be seen as weak. That was until he struck. I believe he made friends with three boys in particular, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and James Potter. I only met them a couple of times, they seemed like nice boys. I wish I'd warned them but once Mother and Peter left me I had no contact with the magical world," Martha said sadly, Hermione desperately wanted to ask more questions but knew that now was not the right time. Martha was emotionally drained and just needed her to be there for her at the moment, she'd talk about this with her at a later date.

"You know that I would never leave you right? I love you so much, if you're father were here then he'd say the same thing, I'm certain of it. Maybe one day you can meet my dad, He's amazing and you two would get along so well Mar!" Hermione said, pulling Martha into a hug and holding her close, never wanting to let her go.

"Oh Mia, I'm so happy for you!" Martha whispered into her ear as they hugged, "I'm so glad that you've found a family that truly love you, you finally get to be happy and that makes me happier than I've been in years."

"You'll never know how much you truly mean to me Mar," Hermione whispered back, squeezing Martha before letting her go and sending her a watery smile.

"So what about your mum?" Martha asked.

"That's a long story," Hermione sighed, slumping back against the sofa.

"We have time," Martha smiled, "Let me just go get some hot chocolate."

Once Martha returned with some hot chocolate for the two to share, Hermione told her all about her mother, about Harry being her cousin, about her plan to free her mum and Uncle Padfoot from Azkaban and everything that happened at Hogwarts. At the end of it all, the two where snuggled on the couch, the talk having finished a while ago, watching the television.

"I forgot to ask you something," Martha suddenly said, sitting up from the couch and looking at Hermione in confusion, "why were you so out of control earlier? Did something happen?"

It was as if a switch had been flicked in Hermiones' brain, all of the talk with Martha and the revelation that she was a squib had caused Hermione to completely forget about how their conversation was initiated. Emotions enveloped Hermione in a matter of seconds; guilt, anger, sadness. She could feel her magic start to stir again, reacting to her emotions and becoming out of control.

"Woah, woah, woah! Mia calm down, it's okay! Everything's going to be okay, calm down, stop!" Martha shrieked, words tumbling from her mouth as Hermione began losing it again.

"They called him a freak," Hermione retorted, her teeth clenched and fists tightened by her side. "Those useless pieces of crap called my cousin a freak. How dare they? I need to get him out! He can't stay there, they've probably hated him ever since he was left there. How dare they! How dare he! How could Dumbledore just leave him there, does he have no compassion? No heart? Did he seriously stoop so low as to leave him with the Dursleys? They sounds horrible, ooohh when I get my hands on him ..."

"MIA STOP!" Martha cried, watching as Hermione spoke to herself, at first her hands were shaking but as she got angrier her hair started to crackle with magic and sparks were spitting from her fingertips.

"Sorry Mar, I can't help myself," Hermione told her, sighing as she tried to reign in her magic once again. Disappointing at herself for losing control twice in one night.

"It's alright, you can't help how you're feeling!" Martha assured her, smiling at her reassuringly. "Hey, do they still have that newspaper, what was it called again?"

"The Daily Prophet, they do interviews and - " Hermione began, but suddenly stopped as she was hit with a surge of inspiration.

"Martha, I have a plan to get Harry away from the Dursleys. You may not like it but just hear me out ..."

...

"The Dursley Residence, who's calling?"

"Hi, is this Vernon Dursley? Director at Grunnings Drill Company?" Martha asked, making sure that her voice sounded polite.

"Yes this is, who am I speaking to?" Vernon replied, his voice gruff.

"I'm Martha Pettigrew, I'm just calling on behalf of The Daily Mail newspaper, we're doing a column on the company and your manager gave us this phone number in order to contact you. We were hoping to get your address in order to arrange an interview with you, just a couple of questions about the company, what your job involves, and others along those lines."

"Oh, well of course! That should be fine, we can meet for the interview tomorrow, my residence is 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey." Vernon replied smugly, obviously proud of himself for having an interview with 'The Daily Mail'

"Oh that's great!" Martha chirped in fake joy, "We'll arrive around 11 in the morning."

"Very well, Goodbye Miss Pettigrew." Vernon dismissed her, before hanging up the phone.

"Dear Merlin, that man is so arrogant!" Martha shrieked in outrage, her face that of disbelief as she spun around to stare at Hermione.

"The address?" Hermione asked, eager to get going so that she could get Harry and return before The Grangers arrived back.

"Oh of course, sorry Mia!" Martha replied, "4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey."

"Surrey? How long will it take to get there?" Hermione asked dejectedly, the journey from Hampstead - where the Grangers reside - to Surrey was sure to be a long one.

"I'm pretty sure we can get the train from Hampstead Station, it'll take roughly an hour, then we can see if there's a bus from there to Little Whinging."

"When are the Grangers back?" Hermione asked, she was pretty sure that it was tomorrow morning but needed to double check.

"They said that they could be back around 11, so that gives us 12 hours to get Harry, bring him back and set him up in your room."

"Okay great, you ready?" Hermione chirped, excited that they were going to rescue Harry.

"Ready when you are," Martha smiled back.

...

Meanwhile Severus was sat out by the lake at Hogwarts, he'd decided that he'd stay this summer. He really didn't feel like staying at Spinners End, that place was such a dump and although he would've been fine to stay there in previous years he was thinking of cleaning it up soon and selling it. He really didn't want to have to take Hermione there, he was hoping that Potter Manor would still be free for their use. Maybe they could even move back into the house that he and Olivia had to flee from.

His dream were big though, he knew in reality that he may never get to move back to that house. It had been their dream house, his and Olivias, not too big but also not too small. It was spacious for the many kids they'd wanted, it had a large backyard and for Severus a potions lab at the end of the grass. The front yard was filled with a variety of flowers, potions ingredients and other plants; it smelled heavenly in the summer, when all the flowers were blooming and the trees had fresh fruit on them ready to be picked. The little path that led up to the front door was accompanied by strings of fairy lights which hung from tree to tree, they lit up the night sky and creating a path for guests to dance down as they arrived.

The images never left his mind, he wished daily for his dreams to become a reality. All he wanted was for his family to be reunited, to stop loving each other from afar and to finally be able to show the love they all shared as one, as a family.

Severus was shook out of his daze by the fluttering of wings, looking up he saw Hades returning with a letter in his claws. A smile lit up on his face as he realised who the letter must be from. Taking the letter from Hades, Severus stroked him as a thank you, before opening the letter to find a blank page. He and Hermione had been sending letters and then covering them with a charm so nobody but the two of them could read it, it was keyed to their magical signature so no-one like Dumbledore could open it if he were to try and intercept it.

 _Hey Daddy,_

 _I miss you so much! You'd honestly never believe how much I miss you and want to see you right now. How are things at Hogwarts? Dumbles not causing you too much stress I hope?_

 _It's great that you've been spending more time with Minnie (It's my new nickname for her, don't tell her I want to surprise her!) I've missed seeing her around the school, I felt a bond with her after she found out who I really was, is that strange? She just gives off this really warm, familiar feeling that is so comforting. Anyway, tell Minnie that I miss her and would love a letter from her if she has the time, I'm currently drafting my own to send to her, I should be done in a day or two._

 _I've also been thinking about my idea to get mum out, nothing more since last time I'm afraid. This idea is really tricky, we just need to find a way to get a letter into her cell. I mean it can't be that hard right? I can see you shaking your head right now, I know you told me to enjoy the summer and enjoy being a kid but I can't help it. I need to save mum and Uncle Pads, it's more important than my childhood. You may not agree, in fact I'm positive you don't agree, but in the grand scheme of things, getting mum and Uncle Pads away from Azkaban and back with family is way more important._

 _Some happier news is that I'm going to try and call Harry, I gave him my house number for the telephone and after some persuading I managed to get the number for his house too. He hasn't managed to call yet and the Grangers are out of town for 2 weeks soon so thought that we could meet up then. Hopefully everything is alright for him and he's available to meet up! It's getting kind of lonely here, I have Martha with me and she's like the big sister I never had. I'd love for you to meet her some day dad, she's amazing!_

 _Apart from that the summer at the Grangers hasn't been that eventful, I'm going to Theos for a week when the Granger are away, so that should be fun, I'm really looking forward to it to be honest._

 _Miss you loads and can't wait to see you again, don't stop writing,_

 _Lot's of Love,_

 _The Best Daughter in the whole entire world x_

Severus couldn't help but chuckle, his Hermione really was something special. The only thing that was bothering him about the letter was the fact that she mentioned only doing things when the Grangers were away.

Was she not allowed to do activities when they were around? Maybe she did things with them instead? Surely she would've mentioned that though?

He'd have to discuss it with her when they saw each other next. Sighing he stared back out at the lake, wondering what his daughter was up to at this very moment.

...

"MAR! HURRY WE'RE GOING TO MISS THE BUS!" Hermione shouted, racing as fast as she could down the street, their train had been delayed so her and Martha were having to rush to the bus in order to catch the earliest one. Looking behind her Hermione was happy to see that Martha wasn't far behind, hopefully they'd make it in time.

Looking ahead Hermione was ecstatic to see the bus stop just up ahead, but the smile was quickly wiped from her face when she realised that the bus had just pulled in. Racing towards it she cried out for it to wait, waving her hands frantically at the driver, praying that he noticed her and would wait.

"Oh Merlin, thank you so much!" Hermione gasped, climbing onto the bus, gasping for breath as she tried to inhale enough air into her lungs. Smiling up at the bus driver Hermione bought a ticker for her and Martha, having the tickets handed to her just as Martha made her way onto the bus.

"Come on let's go to the back," Hermione told her, taking a hold of Marthas arm and dragging her towards the seats situated at the very back of the bus.

"Okay, so let's go over the plan again." Martha said, she wasn't really hooked on the idea that Hermione had come up with but she went along with it because it was Hermiones friend they were rescuing.

"We're not allowed to use magic outside of Hogwarts, but I've been experimenting with wandless magic, and although I've only managed a couple of small spells, one that I have been able to do is alohomara and a charm to make you light footed, I use them a lot when I sneak around Hogwarts at night." Hermione explained, after seeing the look on Marthas face, "The ministry can't track wandless magic so it's our only option, save just knocking on the front door at 1 in the morning and telling the Dursleys we're going to be taking Harry."

"Okay, so let me just say this again. We're breaking and entering a house, where our goal is to kidnap an 11 year-old child. Sounds like a _very_ legal thing to do Mia." Martha commented sarcastically.

"It's not a kidnapping! It's a rescue mission!" Hermione shrieked in exasperation, perhaps a little too loud as the driver seemed to be looking at them funny via his rear-view mirror.

"Fine, this _rescue mission_ seems a little risky," Martha hissed back at her, keeping her voice at a whisper as she too noticed the looks from the driver.

"It's the only way to help Harry! I don't want him to stay with those horrible people Mar!" Hermione explained, her eyes down-cast as she thought of all the years Harry had to spend there, and nobody even helped him or knew what was going on.

"Okay, I understand," Martha assured her, not wanting to see the sad look that had taken over Hermiones eyes. "We're nearly there, so quit talking about it now, the driver keeps giving us funny looks."

10 minutes later the two of them had left the bus and were walking towards Privet Drive.

"What number was it again?" Martha asked, squinting into the darkness.

"4, number 4 Privet Drive," Hermione told her, grabbing Marthas hand and guiding her down the rode.

"Over there!" Hermione said, pointing towards one of the identical houses and walking over as fast as she could. She'd made it to the front door when the sound of ceramic hitting cobblestone caused her to spin around.

"Shhhhh!" Hermione hissed, "Quit tripping over the plant pots!"

"Sorry Mia," Martha whispered apologetically, raising her hands in mock surrender as Hermione glared at her.

"Alohomora," Hermione whispered, smiling when she heard the almost inaudible click of the lock, "we're in!"

"Well hurry up, I'm going to stand out here, I don't want to make anymore noise," Martha told her, knowing that her clumsiness was bound to cause some noise in the house.

"Okay, I won't be long," Hermione whispered back, making her way into the house while trying to open the door as quietly as she could.

As she walked into the door way, Hermione could't shake the sense of dread that filled her body. Something just felt off about this place, the pictures on the wall were like a mask. Frames were full of certificates, family pictures - the fact that Harry didn't feature in any didn't escape her notice - and awards; none of the decorations fit the sinister feel Hermione felt for this house. Everything was perfect, the rugs were spotless, the frames pin straight and the walls a crisp white with no marks in sight.

Hermione was about to make her way into the kitchen when a noise caused her to stop, listening closer she thought it sounded like a rat scratching on wood. She followed the noise towards a small cupboard on the other side of the hallway, the cupboard had a key hole lock on the outside of it and was located under the stairs.

"That's a weird place to put a lock," Hermione mumbled to herself, before she knew what she was doing she opened the lock with a quick 'alohomora' and opened the door.

"Harry?" Hermione gasped, there on the floor of this cupboard was Harry, a clip in his hand, looking worse than she could ever imagine.

"Hermione?"

* * *

 _ **Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I would love it if you could leave a review letting me know your thoughts and ideas :)**_

 _ **Chapter Question:** When do you think Harry should find out about his relation to Hermione and Severus? Soon or Later on in the fic? Let me know on your review!_


	11. Chapter 11

**_Here's the next chapter of 'It's A Twin Thing',_** ** _Thank you so much for all the reviews, they honestly mean the world, you're all so amazing!_**

* * *

 _*Last Time*_

 _As he left Hermione made her way to the birds at the left of the store, as she was looking one bird in particular caught her eye. Unlike the others this owl wasn't sat still in it's cage but was thrashing around, obviously bored of being cooped up. It was beautiful, it's eyes were a deep green and feathers sandy brown colour, with white markings. when Hermione approached it the bird stopped thrashing and stared into her eyes, before cocking it's head to the side and letting out a little chirp, causing Hermioe to giggle at its antics._

 _"Wow, she's never behaved like that before." Mr Eeylops said, his arrival causing Hermione to jump in surprise. "Oh sorry dear, I didn't mean to scare you."_

 _"Don't worry about it sir, I think I'll take this little one," Hermione replied, taking the bag of supplies that the old man gave to her._

 _"Here you go," Mr Eeylops said, handing the cage over to Hermione._

 _"Thank you sir, are you able to charge this to my gringotts account?"_

 _"Of course," Mr Eeylops responded, making his way over to the counter and Hermione followed. When the transaction was complete Hermione bid farewell to Mr Eeylops, before leaving Diagon Alley._

 _While on the train home Hermione stroked the owl softly behind it's ear._

 _"I think I'll call you Amaya," Hermione told her, chuckling when she recieved an appreciative hoot from the Barn Owl._

 _..._

 _It was now Sunday and Hermione had decided that she was just going to try and call Harry, she wanted to talk to him badly and had managed to get his house number off him with a lot of persuasion._

 _"The Dursley Residence, who's calling?" Came a gruff voice from the other end of the line._

 _"Hi, this is Hermione Granger. I'm calling to talk to Harry, I'm a friend from school," Hermione replied politely, trying to make a good first impression on Harrys' relatives._

 _"No!" The voice hollered, "We don't want any of you freaks calling us! The boy won't be talking to you, we have enough freakiness to deal with as it is."_

 _"Wait! I just want to -" Hermione spluttered, not believing what she'd just heard, before she could finish her sentence the line went dead as the other end hung up. A million thoughts were spiralling around Hermiones' head:_

 _Who was that man? Harrys' Uncle? What had he meant by freaks? Is that what he called Harry? A freak? How dare he!_

 _"That good for nothing bastard!" Hermione shouted into the empty house, magic trickling from her core, setting her hair on end as sparks literally crackled at her fingertips. She was trying her best to contain the rage bubbling in her, how dare that man call her cousin a freak. He was the best person she'd ever met, her own blood, and that man dared to call him such a derogotary name._

 _"HERMIONE!?" Cried a startled voice, whirling around Hermione was surprised to see a white Martha staring at her with wide eyes and a slack jaw._

 _..._

 _As she walked into the door way, Hermione could't shake the sense of dread that filled her body. Something just felt off about this place, the pictures on the wall were like a mask. Frames were full of certifcates, family pictures - the fact that Harry didn't feature in any didn't escape her notice - and awards; none of the decorations fit the sinister feel Hermione felt for this house. Everything was perfect, the rugs were spotless, the frames pin straight and the walls a crisp white with no marks in sight._

 _Hermione was about to make her way into the kitchen when a noise caused her to stop, listening closer she thought it sounded like a rat scratching on wood. She followed the noise towards a small cupboard on the other side of the hallway, the cupboard had a key hole lock on the outside of it and was loacted under the stairs._

 _"That's a weird place to put a lock," Hermione mumbled to herself, before she knew what she was doing she opened the lock with a quick 'alohomora' and opened the door._

 _"Harry?" Hermione gasped, there on the floor of this cupboard was Harry, a clip in his hand, looking worse than she could ever imagine._

 _"Hermione?"_

 **Chapter 11**

"Harry what the hell is going on?" Hermione shrieked, not caring if his relatives heard her now or not.

"Hermione keep your voice down!" Harry hissed, surprised that she was here but not wanting to wake his Uncle Vernon in fear of what he'd do.

"I don't care if they hear me! Harry? What have they done to you? Why the fuck are you in a cupboard of all places? What's that in your hand?" Hermione asked shrilly.

"I was trying to pick the lock," He shrugged sheepishly, "I do it most nights, it's the only way I can get food."

"Oh Harry," Hermione sighed sadly, reaching down to take his hand and pulling him out of the cupboard, and into her arms for a hug. As soon as she made contact with his body a gut wrenching whimper escaped Harrys' mouth, along with a large inhale of pain.

"No, Hermione don't," Harry pleaded, but it was too late. Hermione hoisted his shirt up and gasped at the sight before her.

Harrys' body was littered in bruises, scars and cuts, some she could tell were still fresh but turning him around the view only got worse. Large gashes made their way down his back, and squares of skin seemed to be hanging at odd angles from the tip of his spine to the base.

Looking at the arms of her cousin she was barely able to see a hint of skin, his whole arm was a blanket of purples, blacks and greens. Scars littered the remaining space and the blood smeared everywhere had either dried or was in the process of drying.

"Harry, why did they do this to you?" Hermione whispered in silent anger, her eyes filling with tears and magic crackling around her as her emotions swirled in a whirlpool, not knowing which to feel at any one time.

"I – I was rude," he replied back meekly, staring at his feet in embarrassment.

"Rude?" Hermione shrieked, not quite believing the words that she'd just heard.

"It - It's not as bad as it looks 'Mione, honest." Harry tried to assure her, not wanting her to pity him, "I'm used to it, trust me it's fine." Apparently this was the complete wrong thing to say as Hermione quickly lost her cool and started screaming profanities into the no longer silent house.

"NOT AS BAD AS IT LOOKS? THOSE FUCKING BASTARDS ABUSE YOU HARRY, ABUSE YOU! IF THIS ISN'T BAD THEN I DREAD TO THINK WHAT THOSE IMBECILES DO TO YOU NORMALLY! I SWEAR TO MERLIN THEY'RE GOING TO PAY, HOW DARE THEY! WHO DO THEY THINK THEY ARE? BEATING MY COUSIN LIKE THAT, THEY HAVE NO RIGHT, NO FUCKING RIGHT WHATSOEVER! IF I EVER, EVER SEE THEM THEY'LL NOT KNOW WHAT HIT THEM."

"Mia?" Came a voice, spinning around in a fury Hermione came face to face with a scared looking Martha, her face pallor and hands trembling.

"Not now Martha," Hermione growled.

"You need to calm down," Martha tried to reason, raising both her hands and making her way towards Hermione, before she could get very far though a boom echoed throughout the house, to her left Hermione could see Harry flinch in on himself, moving subtly towards Hermione and behind her back.

"Harry what is it?" Hermione asked, her anger ebbing away at the frightened look on his face. He was practically trembling and his face had quickly drained of all colour, while sweat could be seen appearing on his forehead.

"Please 'Mione, you have to go." Harry pleaded, flinching again as footsteps made there way along the hallway.

"No, WE have to go, come on," Hermione told him, grabbing his arm and trying to get him to walk out of the house.

"They'll hurt you 'Mione, I can't let them hurt you, please just go!" He sobbed, trying to scramble back to the cupboard. Before Hermione could respond a voice echoed throughout the house, causing Harry to collapse on the floor and curl into a ball.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON BOY?" Vernon bellowed, looking up Hermione saw his chubby feet step onto the stairs. A river of anger ran through her at the smallest sight of him.

"Hermione go, go Hermione, please ... please ... please ... please ..." Harry sobbed, rocking himself back and forth as Vernons' footsteps got louder.

Hermione was conflicted she wanted so badly to feed the anger that wanted to escape, but on the other hand, looking down at Harry she knew that it wasn't what he needed right now. This was her cousin, her own flesh and blood. She couldn't do anything to make him feel bad, he was already a wreck and under no circumstances was she going to make it worse for him.

"Please Hermione ... please," Harry begged, still rocking furiously back and forth. As she looked upon him she couldn't help the tears that built up in her eyes, she couldn't stand to see Harry in so much unnecessary pain, he didn't deserve it.

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS GOING ON HERE?" Vernon boomed, he was stood at the bottom of the stairs, a belt in one hand and the other balled into a fist.

Staring at the man in front of her Hermione took action before it had even registered in her mind what she was doing,

"You'll never lay a finger on Harry again," Hermione hissed, finally letting her magic take control as she grabbed Harry and Martha apparating them out of the Dursleys and into her room at the Grangers.

"Mia?! How did you do that?" Martha cried, holding her stomach and kneeling down as she tried to get the queasiness of apparation out of her system.

"I - I just, I don't even - how? I -" Hermione stuttered, completely in awe of herself and shocked at the shear amount of power she'd just used.

"Mia, we NEED to help Harry," Martha informed her, motioning to the broken boy who lay on the floor of Hermiones' room, his eyes shut and breathing laboured.

"He's passed out," Hermione muttered, as she checked Harry over, "It's probably a mixture of exhaustion, pain and the sensation of apparating for the first time."

"Let's get him comfortable," Martha said, picking Harry up in his arms, alarmed at how light he was.

"Put him on my bed, he can stay there while he recovers," Hermione said, pulling the duvet back for Martha to lay Harry down.

Martha walked towards the bed, laying Harry down as carefully as she could, realising that they didn't pick up the shirt Hermione had taken off at the Dursleys she tucked the duvets over him so he wouldn't get cold.

"Let's go down, I really need to sort everything that's happened out, we need to think about how Harry will stay here and what we're going to do about the Grangers." Hermione sighed, walking out the room, Martha following her behind.

"We're going to need some coffee for this," Martha groaned, it was nearly 4am and to be honest neither Martha nor Hermione were in the mood to sleep after the events that had just occurred.

"Tell me about it," Hermione agreed, flopping down on a chair carelessly as the two began their conversation.

...

Harry awoke, his eyes parting slowly, dreading the day in front of him. His whole body ached and he just wanted to go back to Hogwarts, to be with his friends, to see Hermione, Ron and Neville. He missed them like crazy, he wished he could write to the but Vernon had taken the key to Hedwigs cage and wouldn't allow her to be free.

He knew that he'd have to try and get her free eventually, Hermione would most definitely be worried, she'd made sure he promised to send her letters.

Hermione. He'd had a dream about her last night, she'd come and rescued him from his cupboard in the middle of the night, she'd called him her cousin and shouted at Vernon before taking him some place safe.

How he longed for it to be true, that he really did have some family left in this world and that he'd been saved from that hell hole of a house.

Shouting broke him out of his thoughts,

 _There they go again_ , he thought, assuming that Vernon and Petunia were arguing. They argued over the most petty of things, it honestly made Harry chuckle when he thought back on some of their arguments.

Listening closer he could barely make out what they were shouting about.

 _That's odd I can usually hear them clearly, how come they haven't dragged me out of here yet?_ , Harry thought to himself, perplexed at the fact that they'd left him and hadn't made him do any chores or make them breakfast yet.

Sighing contently Harry decided that we wasn't going to complain and was just going to enjoy the last moments of 'freedom' he had before having to spend the rest of the day doing chores and getting beat for doing things wrong.

He stretched his legs out before freezing, he could never stretch his legs out in his cupboard, it was way to small.

Peering down at his feet he gasped, his feet were covered by a crisp white duvet, staring around him he could almost cry. He was in a room, an actual bedroom. He was lying in a bed and Merlin was it comfortable, he'd never felt anything so soft.

That's when it hit him, the dream had been true. He really had been rescued by Hermione and brought to a safe place. He couldn't believe it, he wasn't at the Dursleys anymore, he was free!

Pulling the duvet back he hesitantly placed his feet on the ground, relishing in the feel of the fur mat that lay next to the bed.

He could still hear the shouting and as he warily opened the door and made his way into the hallway he could definitely make out a tone that sounded just like Hermione.

Following the sound of the noise he was surprised to hear his name mentioned, opening the door to the voices he gasped at what he heard and saw in front of him.

...

"What you did was irresponsible and dangerous!" Severus shouted, he'd received an urgent letter from Hermione late last night. The contents provided him with very little information, it was simply a scrap of paper with Hermiones' handwriting scrawled frantically on it with a little note,

 _Dad,_

 _Going to save Harry, he's in trouble. Update you later,_

 _Hermione._

That was all he'd received, a measly note which kept him up all night, wondering just what his daughter had gotten herself into. It wasn't until the early hours of the morning that he'd decided he was going to do something about the situation, making his way to McGonagalls office and asking her for Hermiones' school record.

McGonagall was basically in charge of the school, Dumbledore may have the title of Headmaster but all of the work he was supposed to do was handed down to the Deputy because he himself couldn't be arsed to do it. McGonagall made sure everything was in order, organised all events, made timetables and was the one who filed all student information, keeping it organised and up to date.

After a bit of grovelling Severus had managed to get the address of the house Hermione lived in with her muggle parents and after thanking Minerva and racing out of the school wards he apparated to the address.

As soon as he arrived the arguing had started, he was wasting no time in berating his daughter for how stupid she'd been.

"They were beating him! His skin is covered in bruises and his back gorged with a belt. I couldn't leave him there!" Hermione yelled back, livid that her dad had the audacity to shout at her and call her actions stupid when she was just trying to protect her family.

"You should've called someone!" He shouted, not quite as mad as he was making himself out to be after the revelation that his nephew was being abused.

"And done what? Left him there for a few more days to endure the abuse of his so called Aunt and Uncle!"

"It was dangerous Hermione! You could've been caught, it was stupid and reckless."

"I had Martha with me, we were fine. We got Harry back and he's safe now!"

"BUT YOU COULD'VE BEEN HURT!" Severus bellowed.

"I WAS PROTECTING OUR FAMILY!" Hermione screamed back.

"IT'S NOT YOUR JOB TO PROTECT THEM!"

"WHO'S IS IT THEN DAD? CAUSE YOU'RE SURE AS HELL NOT DOING A GOOD JOB OF IT!" Hermione hollered, fed up with the accusations and speaking before she'd thought of the consequences her words would have.

"Dad?" Came a confused voice, Severus and Hermione froze at the voice. Both turning to face the owner. Hermione not missing the hurt and pain reflected in her fathers eyes.

"Harry?" Hermione asked, "What are you doing up?"

"I - I heard shouting and came down to see what was going on," He replied nervously.

"You need to rest Harry," Hermione told, walking over to him and trying to get him to move out of the room.

"'Mione, why's Snape here? Why did you call him dad?" Harry asked, eyes locked with hers. Neither noticing the paling face of Severus Snape as he stared at the bare torso of his nephew, all his wounds on show for the world to see.

"Harry?" Severus whispered, moving slowly towards Harry, his eyes transfixed as he stared at the body of his 11-year-old nephew. Severus kneeled down when he reached him and Harry was surprised to see tears in his professors eyes,

"What did they do to you?" He whispered, Hermione could feel tears building up in his own eyes at the broken voice of her father.

"Uncle Sev?" Harry whispered in confusion, tears in his own eyes as he stared into the eyes of Severus Snape. He felt as if he should've remembered him, that he should've known who this was the first time he'd seen him. The memories were still hazy but calling him 'Uncle Sev' just felt right, natural.

"I can't protect you, any of you," Severus whispered, Hermiones' words playing back in his mind before he fled from the house, not wanting to face his family, the family that he believed he couldn't protect, the one he'd never protected in the first place.

...

"Oh my god, what've I done?" Hermione sighed, leaning back in her chair in the kitchen, it was half 10, about an hour until the Grangers were due to arrive back to the house.

"Don't worry about it Mia, he'll come around eventually," Martha assured her.

"I told him that he's not been protecting us, basically blaming him for mum being in Azkaban, and everything that's happened to me and Harry!" Hermione moaned, banging her head against the table before gathering her face in her hands.

"Azkaban?" Harry asked, he'd been in shock since Severus left, he felt like he had all this important information that was just being pushed into his brain and was finding it hard to fit.

"Mum, or Aunt Liv to you, she's in Azkaban for a crime she didn't commit, the same with Uncle Padfoot," Hermione told him, her voice muffled as her face was still resting in the palm of her hands.

"Uncle Padfoot?" Harry asked, getting frustrated with himself at all the information he didn't have but felt like he should.

"He's a part of the marauders, he was - " Hermione began, only to be cut off by Harry.

"'Mione, would you just be able to tell me the whole story, from the very beginning?" Harry asked, scooting his chair closer to hers and taking a hold of her hand.

"So it started when Uncle Jamie and Aunt Lils were murdered, mum went to your house to find it in ruins, turns out that Uncle Padfoot had already been there, had chased after the Peter Pettigrew - he was your parents secret keeper but he sold them out to Voldemort - and from what I've been told murdered him and 12 muggles, although I don't believe that part of the story. Minnie comforted mum when she found her at Godrics Hollow and on the demands of Albus Dumbledore apparated her to the gates of Hogwarts and took her to his office where they had a chat. Basically, Dumbles told her that he left you with the Dursleys and she blew up at him, he stunned her, Minnie took her to the Gryffindor common room, let her escape and she left via the Whomping Willow."

"Minnie, you've got to be joking right? That's what you call McGonagall?!" Harry said in disbelief, chuckling when he saw a momentary smile flicker across Hermiones' face.

"Yeah, but don't tell her," She whispered dramatically, smiling at Harry briefly.

"I make no promises," He replied cheekily, chuckling along with Hermione and Martha.

"Anyways, mum went back to our house and moved me and dad to Gryffindor Manor before coming to take you off the Dursleys doorstep," Hermione continued, her tone back to a serious one as she continued to relay the story across to Harry,

"From what Dad has told me, he was called away and when he got back a day later he saw a newspaper article, it was about mum being taken to Azkaban. She'd been framed, she was taken to Azkaban because the ministry believed that she'd tortured the Longbottoms into insanity," Hermione continued, her voice harsh and venomous.

"She was trying to save them," Harry concluded, his voice soft as he felt tears build up in his eyes at the sacrifice his Aunt had made and the fact that he does have family that cared and were willing to fight for him when he thought he'd had no-one.

"Yeah, she was. She dropped us off with Aunt Marls before she went there but someone killed her and her family, leaving us alive. I'm almost definite that it wasn't death eaters because if it was then they would have killed us, especially you, I mean you'd killed their lord the day before!"

"It does seem kind of sketchy doesn't it, if not death eaters then who though?" Harry asked.

"I have my suspicions," Hermione growled, her eyes narrowing and nostrils flaring in rage.

"Dumbledore?" Harry asked, coming to the realisation that the supposed 'light' side weren't all they were made out to be.

"Not him directly, but on his orders I'm sure," Hermione told him, glad that he was finally seeing Dumbles for what he was.

"What are we going to do then?" Harry asked, surprising both Hermione and Martha at the determination in his voice.

"At the moment, we can't do anything, we're 11 years old. Nobody takes us seriously, we need to establish ourselves into the community, make alliances with people from other houses, and integrate ourselves into wizarding society and prove we're worth listening to. Until then we can only do so much, and any major changes will be in the background."

"Okay, so where do we start?" Harry asked, wanting to change all the wrong doings in this twisted world as soon as possible.

"I have a list of things I'm working on at the moment, I can show yo-" Hermione said excitedly, looking forward to sharing her plans with her cousin. Unfortunately, her excitement was short lived as the sound of a front door slamming echoed through the house and voices shouted in the parlour.

"Girl! We're home, your mother's parched, get her some peppermint tea, we'll be in the sitting room," Richard roared, causing Harry to flinch in on himself at the loud male voice and Hermione to freeze in panic.

"Martha, take Harry up to my room, he can stay there until other plans are sorted out. The Grangers never go into my room so he'll be fine up there!"

"Of course, come on Harry," Martha encouraged the shaking boy up the stairs, shooting Hermione a sorrowful glance, only receiving a shrug of acceptance in return.

"Best get to work," Hermione sighed, reaching into the cabnet to start making the tea.

This summer was going to be a long one.

...

"We're going to meet with Theo if that's alright?" Hermione asked Harry, walking in her bedroom and plopping herself down on the end of his makeshift bed they'd managed to get together.

There was only two weeks left of the summer holidays and Hermione had put meeting up with Theo off for long enough. Over the past weeks Harry had been staying in Hermiones room, only coming out when the Grangers were gone and in the late evenings to sit on the roof with Hermione as they chatted about their plans and Hermione told him all she knew about their parents and family.

He and Martha were getting on really well and sat talking with each other on a regular basis, sipping hot chocolate while Harry explained all his favourite parts about the wizarding world so far.

Hermione had tried owling her dad several times, but he had yet to reply, she was really worried, she hadn't meant to say those words, they were said in anger and frustration, she never meant to hurt him.

Apart from that, both Harry and Hermione were having a relatively quiet summer.

Hermione still had to do daily chores for the Grangers but Harry and Martha both helped as she did them while the Grangers were at work.

Harry had begun reading all the magical theory books Hermione had and he had to admit that he was quite enjoying it, he strongly believed that once getting back to Hogwarts he'd be able to complete most of the second year curriculum and get all the charms etc correct within a few weeks. He was now reading up on third year content and Hermione was proud of his interest and sudden commitment to learning so much. He really did have an amazing brain, one that may even rival hers if he just worked on it and enhanced his knowledge.

Hermione too had been studying, she - along with Harry - completed all their homework in the first week of being together and while Harry was reading up on his things Hermione was wracking her brain for ways to get her mum and Uncle Sirius out, thinking of the best way to approach Uncle Moony and learning about the theory of fifth year magic.

Both her and Harry had been in constant contact with Ron, Neville and, her, Theo throughout the holidays, they had neglected to tell them of her and Harry being together, Harry simply told them that he was busy during the first week so was unable to contact them.

This morning, Theo had owled her letting her know that his father was abroad now and she was welcome to come round any time. Luckily for Hermione, the Grangers had decided to go to a friends for 5 days so she was free to do whatever she pleased.

She was hoping desperately that Harry had no objections to going, she really didn't want to leave him alone, with her becoming more protective of him than she already was before saving him it was difficult to leave anywhere without him.

"Okay, sounds good." Harry replied, shocking Hermione into silence, "'Mione? did you hear me? I said okay, " He asked her.

"Sorry, just blanked out there!" She apologised, "You're really okay with going to see Theo? A Slytherin?"

"I've been thinking about what you said when you explained everything to me a couple of weeks back and I've decided to give them a chance, by them I mean Slytherins, and by Slytherins I mean everyone but Voldemort, for obvious reasons," He smirked.

"Oh but Harry, you and Voldemort would make the best of friends!" Hermione insisted cheekily.

"Yeah our favourite past time would be who can kill the other first, sounds like a solid friendship right there," He replied sarcastically.

Hermione revelled in the moments where Harry let his true colours show, all of the abuse had left him but a mere shell of his true self. His potential had increased in leaps and bounds since he'd been away from the Dursleys and Hermione could now see why the sorting hat would consider him for Slytherin.

"Honestly though, I don't mind going to visit Nott, he can't be that bad if you're friends with him."

"Thanks Harry!" Hermione squealed, letting her girlish side come through as she crushed him in a hug, she was the only one he'd allow to touch her, he still flinched when Martha tried to touch him but he was getting better at it.

"So when do we leave?" He asked her.

"Now? I hope that's okay," She replied.

"Sure, let me just get my things ready and -" Harry began only to trail off when he noticed the guilty look on Hermiones' face, "you've already packed it haven't you?"

"Guilty as charged," She announced, holding her hands up in mock surrender.

"We best hurry up then, don't want to keep Slytherin-Dearest waiting."

"I suggest refraining from calling Theo that in his presence," Hermione giggled.

"Oh come on 'Mione, he'll _love_ his new nickname," Harry replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Hermione laughed at his declaration, shuffling him along and out of the room, "Let's get going smart ass."

"Whatever you say mum," Harry grumbled, walking out of the house as he and Hermione got the knight bus and made their way to Theos.

...

"'Mione!" Theo cried, racing down the drive towards a certain bushy-haired Gryffindor and scooping her into a hug.

"Hey Theo," Hermione chuckled, clinging onto her Slytherin friend for dear life, not wanting to let go as he spun her around.

"I'm so glad you're here!" He told her, a massive smile gracing his features, only dropping a fraction when he saw a certain person behind Hermione.

"Potter," Theo nodded in greeting.

"Call me Harry, Merlin knows we'll be seeing enough of each other, surnames just seems a bit formal no?" Harry suggested.

"Okay ... Harry," Theo replied uncertainly, not quite knowing how to react to this Harry Potter.

"Let's just start again? Hi, my name's Harry, it's nice to meet you," Harry reintroduced, holding his hand out for Theo to shake.

"Theo, nice to meet you too," Theo replied shaking Harrys' hand.

"Seriously?" Hermione screeched, watching the boys in amazement.

"What?" Harry and Theo asked at the same time, smirking at each other after they did so.

"... Boys," Hermione huffed, grabbing her and Harrys' luggage and walking up towards the house.

"What did we do?" Theo asked in confusion.

"Beats me," Harry replied, shrugging his shoulders helplessly.

Hermione simply continued walking up the drive, a smile gracing her lips as she listening to the boys chatting behind her, one thought racing through her mind:

 _maybe miracles can happen._

* * *

 _ **Thank you so much for reading, I realised that I haven't updated in a while, I won't make excuses cause tbh I don't have any! I'm going to try my best to update more often, but I shan't be making any promises!**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed this chapter, reviews are always appreciated :)**_

 _ **Chapter Question:** Who's your favourite Slytherin?_


	12. Chapter 12

**_Here's the next chapter of 'It's A Twin Thing', thank you so much for the reviews and all the feedback I've been getting on this story, it's so inspiring and all of you are amazing, so thank you! Hope you enjoy this chapter :)_**

 ** _**FOR UPDATES ON MY FICS OR IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS THEN GO CHECK OUT AND FOLLOW MY TUMBLR PAGE - TPNKSWRTIES**_**

* * *

 _*Last Time*_

 _"Harry, why did they do this to you?" Hermione whispered in silent anger, her eyes filling with tears and magic crackling around her as her emotions swirled in a whirlpool, not knowing which to feel at any one time._

" _I – I was rude," he replied back meekly, staring at his feet in embarrassment._

" _Rude?" Hermione replied back, not quite believing the words that she'd just heard._

 _"It - It's not as bad as it looks 'Mione, honestly." Harry tried to assure her, not wanting her to pity him, "I'm used to it, trust me it's fine." Apparently this was the complete wrong thing to say as Hermione quickly lost her cool and started screaming profanities into the house._

 _"NOT AS BAD AS IT LOOKS? THOSE FUCKING BASTARDS ABUSE YOU HARRY, ABUSE YOU! IF THIS ISN'T BAD THEN I DREAD TO THINK WHAT THOSE IMBECILES DO TO YOU NORMALLY! I SWEAR TO MERLIN THEY'RE GOING TO PAY, HOW DARE THEY! WHO DO THEY THINK THEY ARE? BEATING MY COUSIN LIKE THAT, THEY HAVE NO RIGHT, NO FUCKING RIGHT WHATSOEVER! IF I EVER, EVER SEE THEM THEY'LL NOT KNOW WHAT HIT THEM."_

 _"Mia?" Came a voice, spinning around in a fury Hermione came face to face with a scared looking Martha, her face pallor and hands trembling._

 _"Not now Martha," Hermione growled._

 _"You need to calm down," Martha tried to reason, raising both her hands and making her way towards Hermione, before she could get very far though a boom echoed through the house, to her left Hermione could see Harry flinch in on himself, moving subtly towards Hermione and behind her back._

 _..._

 _"What you did was irresponsible and dangerous!" Severus shouted, he'd recieved an urgent letter from Hermione late last night. The contents provided him with very little information, it was simply a scrap of paper with Hermiones' handwriting scrawled frantically on it with a little note,_

 _Dad,_

 _Going to save Harry, he's in trouble. Update you later,_

 _Hermione._

 _That was all he'd recieved, a measly note which kept him up all night, wondering just what his daughter had gotten herself into. It wasn't until the early hours of the morning that he'd decided he was going to do something about the situation, making his way to McGonagalls office and asking her for Hermiones' school record._

 _McGonagall was basically in charge of the school, she made sure everything was in order irganised all events and was the one who filed all student information and kept it orgaised and up to date._

 _After a bit of grovelling Severus had managed to get the address of the house Hermiones lived in with her muggle parents and after thanking Minerva and racing out of the school wards he apparated to the address._

 _As soon as he arrived the arguing had started, he was wasting no time in berating his daughter for how stupid she'd been._

 _"They were beating him! His skin is covered in bruises and his back gorged with a belt. I couldn't leave him there!" Hermione yelled back, livid that her dad had the audacity to shout at her and call her actions stupid when she was just trying to protect her family._

 _"You should've called someone!" He shouted._

 _"And what left him there for a few more days to endure the abuse of his so called Aunt and Uncle!"_

 _"It was dangerous Hermione! You could've been caught, it was stupid and reckless."_

 _"I had Martha with me, we were fine. We got Harry back and he's safe now!"_

 _"BUT YOU COULD'VE BEEN HURT!" Severus bellowed._

 _"I WAS PROTECTING OUR FAMILY!" Hermione screamed back._

 _"IT'S NOT YOUR JOB TO PROTECT THEM!"_

 _"WHO'S IS IT THEN DAD? CAUSE YOU'RE SURE AS HELL NOT DOING A GOOD JOB OF IT!" Hermione hollered, fed up with the accusations._

 _..._

 _"'Mione!" Theo cried, racing down the drive towards a certain busy haired Gryffindor and scooping her into a hug._

 _"Hey Theo," Hermione chuckled, clinging onto her Slytherin friend for dear life, not wanting to let go as he spun her around._

 _"I'm so glad you're here!" He told her, a massive smile gracing his features, only dropping a fraction when he saw a certain person behind Hermione._

 _"Potter," Theo nodded in greeting._

 _"Call me Harry, merlin knows we'll be seeing enough of eachother, surnames just seems a bit formal no?" Harry told him._

 _"Okay ... Harry," Theo replied uncertainly, not quite knowing how to react to this Harry Potter._

 _"Let's just start again? Hi, my name's Harry, it's nice to meet you," Harry reintroudced, holding his hand out for Theo to shake._

 _"Theo, nice to meet you too," Theo replied shaking Harrys' hand._

 _"Seriously?" Hermione screeched, watching the boys in amazement._

 _"What?" Harry and Theo asked at the same time, smirking at each other when they realised._

 _"... Boys," Hermione huffed, grabbing her and Harrys luggage and walking up towards the house._

 _"What did we do?" Theo asked in confusion._

 _"Beats me," Harry replied, shrugging his shoulders helplessly._

 _Hermione simply continued walking up the drive, a smile gracing her lips as she listening to boys chatting behind her, one thought racing through her mind:_

 _maybe miracles can happen._

 **Chapter 12**

"Uncle Moony, I know you're probably not expecting me to - no no no - Remus? Mr Lupin? Argghh"

"Hermione is everything okay in here?" Harry asked, making his way out the bathroom and into the room the two shared.

"No, I'm trying to start the letter to Uncle Moony, but I have no clue how to go about it!" She sighed in frustration, banging her head down on the table, her hair falling to cover her head.

"How about I help? We can sign it off from both of us, maybe it will help convince him that the letter is real and not a joke from someone else?" Harry suggested.

"Sounds good, so how should we start it? I was thinking Mr Lupin would be a bit formal and calling him Remus just sounds strange."

"Uncle Moony it is then, who else calls him that? No-one but us, so he'll be more inclined to read the rest of the letter."

"Okay, now for the rest of it," Hermione mumbled to herself, hoping this wouldn't take an age.

The two spent the next hour or so coming up with the perfect letter, they didn't want it to be too formal but they also didn't want it to sound like they were lying and that it wasn't really them writing the letter. So, after several drafts the two cousins had finally finished the letter, it read;

 _Uncle Moony,_

 _I know you're probably not expecting to receive a letter, let alone from the two of us. Recently, me and Harry have learnt a lot about our family and it's past, we know that Uncle Padfoot and my mum were framed for crimes they didn't commit and that Wormtail is more of a rat than we, and probably you, originally thought._

 _We have so much to tell you and we really want to meet you, the Uncle Moony we remember in our memories is amazing and we desperately want to know who you are now, furry little problem and all!_

 _We understand if you don't think this letter is really from us, but we've spelled it so that only you and the two of us can read it's contents. We'd really love it if you could meet us at:_

 _125 Old Broad Street, London EC2N 1AR_

 _on 26th August at 14:00 so that we can prove that we're who we say we are,_

 _we love you Uncle Moony, even if you don't know it yet,_

 _Harry Potter and Hermione Snape x_

"I think it's finally done,"

"At last," Hermione sighed, a smile on her face as the reality that they might be meeting another family member soon kicked in. At the reminder of family Hermiones' face dropped as thoughts of her father entered her mind; noticing her change in demeanour Harry reached out to squeeze her hand.

"Everything all right 'Mione? I thought you'd be happy we finished the letter?"

"I am, it's just that it got me thinking about dad and how awful the things I said to him were," She admitted, hanging her head in shame as the words she shouted echoed back in her head.

"He'll come around 'Mione, how about we send him another letter?" He suggested, walking over to grab some paper from Hermiones' desk.

"We've already sent him three and he hasn't replied to any of them."

"How about we send Minnie a letter?"

"Minnie? How is she going to help?" asked Hermione, perplexed at the suggestion.

"She's friends with Uncle Sev, right? She must know where he lives, if we send her a letter and ask her to meet us somewhere, maybe she'll take us?"

"Harry!" Hermione cried, jumping up to pull him into a hug, "That's a brilliant idea, hopefully she'll agree and will help us, I really miss him."

Harry simply smiled, not only at Hermiones reaction but out of self pride that he didn't flinch when she attacked him with a bear hug.

...

"Do you thinks she'll come?"

"She said she would 'Mione, she wouldn't go back on her word," Harry assured her, noticing her tensing up at the idea that she wouldn't arrive.

Minnie had replied back to Hermione almost instantly, telling her that she'd meet her at the Grangers house as she already had the address and would be there the next morning.

"What if she doesn't give us the address?" Hermione pondered, her hands beginning to shake at the thought of not being able to reconcile with her dad.

"'Mione, calm down! Everything will go great, I promise!" Harry assured her, scooting across the bed to wrap his arms around her.

"Thanks Harry," Hermione smiled, leaning into the embrace and wondering just how she managed to get the best cousin in the world. It was mere moment later that they heard a knocking on the door and Martha calling up for the two of them to come downstairs.

As they walked down the stairs Harry took her hand in his and smiled at her reassuringly.

As they entered the living room the first thing they heard was a confused "Mr Potter?" from Minerva.

"Hey Minnie," Harry replied, his face going red as he ran a hand through his hair. Hermione stared at him in shock at the use of the name 'Minnie'.

"Excuse me?" Minerva asked, shocked at the pet name he had used for her.

"Oh, um - sorry?" Harry stumbled, realising what he'd called her, "It's just that 'Mione called you that and it, um, kinda stuck?"

"Miss Granger is that true?" Minerva asked tartly, neither of them noticing the mischievous glint behind her eyes.

"Well, um, I just - you know, your name is so long and I - I hope you don't mind?"

"You're so much like your mother Hermione," Minerva chuckled, smiling softly at the two cousins as they stared at her in confusion.

"Really?" Hermione asked, her back straightening and ears perked in interest.

"Yes, both she and James used to call me that," She replied sadly, hanging her head at the thought of her former students, she'd viewed them more as her children than she did students, they were something special and the bond the three shared was unimaginable.

"I'm sorry Minnie," said Hermione, walking over to sit on the coach next to Minerva.

"Whatever for?"

"I must remind you of mum an awful lot, sorry it makes you sad,"

"Nonsense, you may look like your mother and have some similar characteristics, but there is no doubt in my mind that you are your own person and an amazing one at that," Minerva assured her, smiling kindly at her from the seat next to her, "Now we should address why Harry is here, no?"

"Hermione saved me," Harry told her, moving to sit on the other side of Hermione.

"Saved you?"

"Yes, from the Dursleys,"

"Dursleys? Harry you were safe there, why did she need to save you?" Minerva asked, confused as to why he'd need to be saved.

"Safe? He was not safe." Hermione told her bitterly, "Do you have any idea what they did to him?"

"'Mione please we don't have to go into it," Harry pleaded, staring into her eyes hoping she'd realise how much he didn't want to tell Minerva any information.

"If we don't tell her she won't understand Harry," Hermione said softly, "how about you tell her what you feel comfortable telling her?"

"Okay," Harry nodded, albeit hesitantly.

"The Dursleys were not very nice to me Minnie, they - they hurt me, I - um, I slept in a cupboard and -"

"A CUPBOARD? You slept in a cupboard!?" Minerva practically boomed, standing up from her place on the sofa as she started pacing up and down the room.

"I told Albus those muggles were no good, he promised you were safe, said they were looking after you and treating you as there own, how could I have been so blind? They made you sleep in a cupboard, in a god-damn cupboard! What else did they do? Harry, tell me. What else did they do!?" Minerva demanded, her face red with anger and fist clenched as she knelt down in front of Harry.

Harry wasn't originally going to enclose the whole story to her but looking into her eyes, he couldn't help but tell her everything, his whole life story. He felt overjoyed, that he had another person in his life that cared for him apart from Hermione, Ron, Martha and Uncle Sev that he spent almost an hour telling Minerva everything that had happened in his life at the Dursleys, about the abuse he had endured, how he slept in a cupboard and had to do everything around the house. He told her about how Hermione and Martha saved him, about the fact that he knew about Hermiones' real parents and that he knew he now had people who loved and cared for him.

It was after all this that Minerva gathered the two children in a hug, trying to shield the fact that she was about to cry, and telling them that she was proud of the both of them and that if they ever needed anything she would always be there for them, for as long as she lives she'll stand by them and help keep them safe and loved.

Hermione and Harry couldn't stop themselves from shedding a few tears at that, and when Minerva pulled away they both smiles at each other and took the others hand in their own, relishing in the closeness as they allowed their emotions to get back in line.

"Minnie?" Hermione asked tentatively as the three of them sat close to each other on the sofa.

"Yes Hermione?"

"This wasn't the only reasons we asked you to meet us today," She admitted, suddenly nervous that Minerva would deny their request.

"What is it?" Minerva asked softly.

"We need dads address, me and him had an argument and some things were said in the heat of the moment that were untrue and ended up hurting his feelings," Hermione began, her hands shaking in Harrys as he tried to calm her down by stroking her hand with his thumb.

"We tried to send him letters, but so far he hasn't replied," Harry continued.

"So you would like me to take you to his address so you can apologise?"

"If that would be okay? We understand if not bu -" Hermione began, hoping desperately that she'd not decline them.

"You're too much like your father Hermione," Minerva chuckled, "of course I will take you, in fact I'll apparate you over right now if you'd like?"

"Really?" Hermione asked hopefully, not quite believing that it was this easy, "I thought you weren't allowed to disclose information about professors to students?"

"Ah, but not only is Severus your professor but also your father and a friend of mine, as this trip is personal and not about Hogwarts I will most definitely take you to him,"

Hermione launched herself off the sofa and towards Minerva, wrapping her arms around the older woman and whispering a quick, "Thanks Minnie," before releasing her and going back to Harry.

"Of course my dear, now lets make our way to the entry hall where we will apparate to Severus' address," Minerva said, leading the way to where she first arrived when she got to the Grangers.

Hermione and Harry needed no more encouragement as they both sprang up, hands still intertwined, and raced after Minerva.

"Now hold onto me tight and try your best to relaxed, it'll help with the travel sickness,"

With those words the three of them disappeared before apparating in front of a spacious manor, a fence and large brass gates blocking the way onto the grounds.

"Before I leave, I forgot to give you this when I arrived Hermione, it's a journal. All you have to do is say the words 'hiccium effingo' and any text you want to copy will be copied onto the blank pages inside. Every new copy is marked so all you have to say is the title of whatever book you copied and the journal will open to the pages you copied. Now, I hope you understand that this is to be used only for any acceptable books that you wish to copy. I trust you to use it wisely, Hermione." Minerva said, handing the book down to her.

"Thank you so much Minnie," Hermione smiled, her face alight at the knowledge she could hold in this book.

"I'll leave the two of you here," Minerva told them, smiling down at each of them as they continued to crouch close to the ground to try and stop the feeling of sickness that the apparation had caused them.

"Thank you Minnie," They both chorused, glad that she was giving them space to talk to Severus but sad that she had to go so quick. Seeing the sadness on their faces Minerva crouched down to be closer to both of them,

"I'll visit soon, yes?"

"Really? That'd be great!" Hermione sang, Harry nodding enthusiastically beside her.

"I'll write to let you know when it'll be, now I hope your meeting with Severus goes well, good luck," Minerva said, before apparating away and leaving the two of them in front of the gates.

As soon as Minerva left the large brass gates opened, giving the two of them a beautiful view of the manor and the grounds it sat on.

"Ready?" Harry asked, standing up first and helping Hermione up onto her feet.

"As ready as I'll ever be," She admitted, clutching Harrys' hand as they made their way up the drive and towards the manor lying before them. They made their way slowly towards the doors, hesitant at the reaction they would receive to their presence.

It was nothing to worry about though, as soon as they knocked on the door and it opened Hermione flung herself into her fathers arms, tears already pouring from her eyes.

"Hermione?" Severus asked, his vision quickly blinded by a mass of brown curls as soon as he opened the door.

"I'm so sorry Daddy, I didn't mean what I said, it just came out! I was so angry, and I - I wasn't thinking when I shouted that at you. You're doing an amazing job at protecting us dad, you -you're amazing and I - I - I love you and I'm so so so - sorry," She sputtered, clutching onto her father for dear life at the thought that he'd reject her.

"I failed you poppet, I didn't check on Harry, I didn't protect him," Severus admitted, smoothing her hair down softly as he knelt down to place her on the floor.

"You didn't fail him Dad, I promise. He doesn't blame you one bit, he - he loves you." Hermione told him, looking up at him as Severus wiped the tears from her face, his eyes shining with love and pain.

"He doesn't know me, I'm just Professor Snape to him, the bat of the dungeon and the one that is mean and cruel to him," He said, bowing his head in regret at the thought of Harry.

"That's not true Uncle Sev,"

"Harry?" Severus' head snapped up at the sound of his nephews voice.

"Sure, I still think you're mean when you're in your teacher persona but 'Mione explained everything to me and as soon as I looked into your eyes, that morning the two of you were fighting, all these memories flooded into my mind. All these memories of you and Aunt Liv, I - I do love you Uncle Sev, even though I don't know the man you are now, I know that the man I remember would do anything to protect his family if he knew what was going on," Harry admitted, running his hand through his hair in embarrassment, not sure if Severus would feel the same way.

"But Harry, I didn't protect you, those - those muggles hurt you, and I wasn't there to stop it." Severus told him, walking towards him and kneeling so they were face to face, his eyes showing the pain and sadness that lay deep within him.

"You didn't know, you thought I was safe there, Dumbles told you I was, Minnie thought I was, you didn't know and that's fine. 'Mione and Martha saved me, and I know that you will protect us now and in the future." Harry said, trying to alliviate the pain the his Uncle Sev was going through, he hated to see anyone in pain, especially someone who was a part of his new-found family.

"It's not fine though Harry, I should've known, I should have kept an eye on you, you're my nephew and I didn't protect you or even try to reach out. What I've done is inexcusable and It'll haunt me for the rest of my years."

"You were grieving over the supposed-death of Hermione and Aunt Liv was thrown in Azkaban. I think you had enough on your plate, you thought I was safe, you thought I was being cared for, it's not your fault."

"I'm glad at least someone thinks so," Snape sighed, dragging his hand slowly down his face in exhaustion.

"Can we come in?" Hermione asked, moving out the way of the door so Severus and Harry could get passed.

The two of them went and sat down on the sofa in the main living room as Severus went to the kitchen, coming back with two hot chocolates and what looked suspiciously like fire whiskey. Hermione gave her dad a warning glare as she eyed the substance in the glass, simply raising her eyebrow as her dad looked at her sheepishly.

"How did you get here?" Severus asked, curious as to how the two of them arrived without the company of an adult.

"Minnie helped us out," Hermione admitted.

"Even to get through the wards,"

"Wards?" Harry asked, not knowing what wards were in the wizarding world and making a note to either ask Hermione later or look it up by himself.

"What wards?" Hermione wondered at the same time as Harry.

"The ones that are set up all around the manor," Severus told them, confused at their confusion.

"We just walked through," Hermione told him.

"Walked through?"

"Yeah, the gates opened for us," Harry said, sending Hermione a confused glance which she reciprocated.

"Of course, how could I forget? The wards are keyed to enter anyone with the blood of me or your mother, as you're my daughter that makes sense and because Harry has your mums blood through James he could also get through." Severus sighed, annoyed at himself that he could forget something so simple.

"Cool!" They both shouted together, chuckling when Severus looked at each of them in surprise, obviously not expecting them to be so close that they speak together.

"So, how did you get the information out of Minerva?" He asked.

"We sent her a letter," Harry began.

"After you didn't reply to any of the ones we sent we decided to write to Minnie and ask her to meet us." Hermione continued.

"She answered and we agreed to meet at the Grangers cause she knows the address of all the students and we were already there," Harry explained.

"So we met and told her what happened, she brought us here after we told her about everything," Hermione finished.

"Said that 'Mione was too much like you Uncle Sev," Harry snickered, causing Hermione to elbow him playfully in the ribs. Thinking back to but a couple of weeks ago Severus smiled fondly as he thought of when he'd pestered Minerva for Hermiones' address.

"Like father like daughter," He said smugly, smirking at Hermione who simply rolled her eyes and huffed in fake annoyance.

"Well, I think I'd like to have a chat with Harry if that's okay with the two of you?" Severus asked, desperately wanting to discuss the Dursleys with Harry and see how he was coping with everything, not only that but he had prepared some potions for him to put on his cuts and some coping mechanisms for any trouble he was having.

Hermione looked over to Harry in concern, she knew that he had a hard time trusting people and feeling comfortable around others' especially when he's alone. Even though she knew that he trusted and loved her dad, she couldn't help but feel concerned as the two had spent hardly any time together and Harry wasn't familiar with him.

"Perhaps I should come with the two of you?" Hermione suggested, not wanting to leave Harry.

"It's fine 'Mione, I can go by myself," Harry assured her, squeezing her hand to confirm he meant it.

"Are you sure?" She asked, worried for him and scared that she wouldn't be there for him if he got panicked or scared.

"I'll be fine, if I need you I'll call for you, okay?" He said, he wasn't going to admit it but he was rather worried about how he'd react without Hermione around to help him through things.

"Okay, I guess I'll just, go and explore?" She said hesitantly, pulling Harry in for a brief hug and kissing him on the cheek before making her way out of the room and into the hall.

Not knowing what to do with herself Hermione began walking around the manor, there were loads of windows so the space was well lit and Hermione had to admit that this place was one of the most beautiful places she'd seen.

Before reaching the destination that would finally become the one she stayed in while the boys continued with there chat she looked in two other doors, one appeared to be a ballroom of sorts as it was mainly empty with a hard wood floor and a large chandelier hanging from the ceiling.

The next was a small room, it had a few arm chairs dotted around and a fire place on the back wall, various pictures were adjourned on the walls and a small bookcase was off to the right of the room, after inspecting it Hermione found the books to be fake and just there for decoration.

Finally, she reached a large set of oak doors, around the outside they were engraved with black metal which wound its way up the edges in swirls until reaching the top of the arched door where the two swirls met to make a heart.

Curious, Hermione opened the doors before freezing on the spot a gasp escaping her lips as she clutched the doors for support.

In front of her was the largest library she had ever seen in her whole entire life, shelves and shelves of books covered the walls, both on this level and the one upstairs, large bay windows lay at each end and lavish red curtains flowed from the tops of them. Hermione couldn't believe her eyes, this was her dream, she would live in here if she ever got the chance.

Walking around Hermione picked up book after book, placing them on her ever-growing pile at one of the desks that were situated all around the room. Once she felt like she had enough to look at for the moment she sat down and began reading, most were on magical creatures and many on wards, as she wanted to learn more after her dad mentioned them earlier.

She'd been reading for about an hour and had copied some interesting extracts into her journal before deciding to go look in the parts of the library she had yet to go. Placing the books she'd gotten away she walked to the farthest corner, thinking that the most interesting books would be situated here.

She was correct.

This area seemed to be darker than the others, the books exuberting a sort of dark longing that made her want to read and use the knowledge within, she walked around and picked books off the shelf, many seemed to be on soul magic and dark spells, many she didn't dare to look in but a few caught her interest and she simply copied the whole book into her journal, hoping it had unlimited pages.

She was about to leave when a purple book caught her eye, walking over she blew off the dust that had settled and read the title on the front.

"The magic within us," She read, interested at the information she'd find within the book, she opened it cautiously and turned to a random page, it read:

 _ **Auferat Simulare**_

 _ **A spell used on a person so that they (and anyone around them) thinks that magic is being sucked out of the selected victim.**_

"Why would anyone need to pretend to suck someones magic out?" She whispered to herself, the spell intriguing her even though she didn't know why.

Before she could read anymore a shout echoed throughout the library, startling her and almost causing her to drop the book in her hand.

"Hermione!"

It was her dad, he must have finished his chat with Harry, she was about to put the book away but quickly whispered 'hiccium effingo' and copied the whole book into her journal, making a mental note to go back and read through all of the pages on the that spell.

"I'm here dad," She called, walking back towards the door after she'd placed the book back and shoved the journal the best she could into her hoodie pocket.

"Of course you were in the library," Harry smirked, smiling broadly at Hermione who quickly rushed over at seeing Harry.

"How did it go?" She asked, hoping that everything went well if she was judging by the grin on her cousins face.

"It went great poppet," Severus told her, smiling at her.

"Uncle Sev said we should come and get you so he can drop us off back at the Grangers," Harry said.

"Already? What's the time?" Hermione asked, completely forgetting that they would have to leave eventually.

"5 in the evening," Severus replied, quickly checking his watch to make sure he was accurate.

"5?!" Harry and Hermione both cried together, a look of panic fluttering across their faces.

"Dad, you need to get us back to the Granger now!" Hermione said, her eyes darting around the room in paranoia.

"Is everything okay poppet?" Severus asked, suspicious at the behaviour his daughter and nephew were displaying.

"Dad, the Grangers get back at 5:15, we _need_ to be home before they get back from work!" She pleaded, grabbing his hand and dragging him out of the library and towards the front door.

"Why?" He asked, worried for the kids as they looked terrified at the prospect of not being back before the Grangers.

"Please Uncle Sev we'll explain later but right now we have to get back!" Harry said, his eyes pleading with him to just listen.

"fine, I'll apparate you back now, but next time I see you, promise you tell me what's going on," He said sternly, hoping that what he was thinking was not the reality of this situation.

"We promise dad," Hermione hurriedly replied.

"Hold on tight," Severus informed them, grabbing each child and apparating off to the Grangers.

When they had arrived and Hermione and Harry found time to get their bearings they froze. The Grangers car was already here, they must have come home early from the practice.

"Shit," She cursed, staring at Harry.

"They're here already," Harry whispered, mainly to himself but loud enough for Severus to hear.

"We love you dad, but we have got to go," Hermione cried, racing to give him a hug before entering the house.

"Love you Uncle Sev," Harry cried, not bothering with a hug as he was too preoccupied with how he was going to get to Hermiones room without getting caught.

Severus merely watched as the two of them disappeared into the house, he stood for a couple of minutes and when nothing out of the usual occurred apparated back to Prince Manor, determined that the next time he saw those two he would get some answers.

Meanwhile, inside the house Hermione had raced into the main entrance, only to hear the Grangers shouting at who she could only assume was Martha.

"Harry, quickly up the stairs and in my room, they're in the kitchen I'll handle it," Hermione hissed, walking towards the kitchen door, ignoring the worried look Harry sent her before running up the stairs.

"Where is the freak?" Richard screamed.

"She - She's" Martha stuttered, trying to come up with an acceptable excuse for Hermione.

"I'm here Father," Hermione interrupted before he could shout at Martha any more.

"You! Where were you? Why were you not doing your chores?" Richard shouted, walking menacingly towards Hermione, causing her to be backed into a corner of the kitchen.

"I just went outside for a bit, I needed some fresh air," She whimpered, praying that he wouldn't lay a hand to her, he never had before but at the moment she wasn't confident that he wouldn't.

"Needed some fresh air? THEN OPEN A WINDOW!" He hollered, "you are not permitted to go outside or do anything until all your chores are done, you understand!"

"Yes father."

"Very well," He said, standing up straight, "Make sure all your chores are done in the next hour or you'll get no food for 2 days," He said sternly, as he walked away and out of the kitchen. Jean glared at her, before sniffing and turning her head away as she followed Richard out of the kitchen.

"That was close," Hermione sighed, sliding down the wall and crumpling on the floor, her head in her hands.

"Hermione?" Martha asked, scrambling over to where Hermione sat.

"I'm okay Martha, let's get started on those jobs," Hermione replied, raising her chin and smiling at Martha as she stood up.

"Okay, let's get started," Martha agreed.

As Hermione began the chores all she could think about was the day she could leave this place and stay with her real family, the family she longed to be brought together.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! Thanks for reading I hope you enjoyed this Chapter! Love it if you could leave a review, tell me your thoughts, what you want to happen in future chapters and where you think this story is heading!**_

 _ **Chapter Question:**_ _What do you think of the relationship Harry and Harry are developing with McGonagall? Good? Bad? Weird? Let me know in the reviews :)_

 ** _**FOR UPDATES ON MY FICS OR IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS THEN GO CHECK OUT AND FOLLOW MY TUMBLR PAGE - TPNKSWRTIES**_**


	13. Chapter 13

_*Last Time*_

 _"Uncle Moony, I know you're probably not expecting me to - no no no - Remus? Mr Lupin? Argghh"_

 _"Hermione is everything okay in here?" Harry asked, making his way out the bathroom and into the room the two shared._

 _"No, I'm trying to start the letter to Uncle Moony, but I have no clue how to go about it!" She sighed in frustration, banging her head down on the table, her hair flowing around to cover her head._

 _"How about I help? We can sign it off from both of us, maybe it will help convince him that they letter is real and not a joke from someone else?" Harry suggested._

 _"Sounds good, so how should we start it? I was thinking Mr Lupin would be a bit formal and calling him Remus just sounds strange."_

 _"Uncle Moony it is then, who else calls him that? No-one but us, so he'll be more inclined to read the rest of the letter."_

 _"Okay, now for the rest of it," Hermione mumbled to herself, hoping this wouldn't take an age._

 _The two spent the next hour or so coming up with the perfect letter, they didn't want it to be too formal but they also didn't want it to sound like they were lying and that it wasn't really them writing the letter._

 _..._

 _Hermione?" Severus asked, his vision quickly blinded by a mass of brown curls as soon as he opened the door._

 _"I'm so sorry Daddy, I didn't mean what I said, it just came out! I was so angry, and I - I wasn't thinking when I shouted that at you. You're doing an amazing job at protecting us dad, you -you're amazing and I - I - I love you and I'm so so so - sorry," Hermione sputtered, clutching ont her father for dear life at the thought that he'd reject her._

 _"I failed you poppet, I didn't check on Harry, I didn't protect him," Severus admitted, smoothing her hair down softly as he knelt down to place her on the floor._

 _"You didn't fail him Dad, I promise. He doesn't blame you one bit, he - he loves you." Hermione told him, looking up at him as Severus wiped the tears from her face, his eyes shining with love and pain._

 _"He doesn't know me, I'm just Professor Snape to him, the bat of the dungeon and the one that is mean and cruel to him," He said, bowing his head in regret at the thought of Harry._

 _"That's not true Uncle Sev,"_

 _"Harry?" Severus' head snapped up at the sound of his nephews voice._

 _..._

 _She was about to leave when a purple book caught her eye, walking over she blew off the dust that had settled and read the title on the front._

 _"The magic within us," She read, interested at the information she'd find within in the book, opening it cautiously she turned to a random page, it read._

 ** _Auferat Simulare_**

 _ **A spell used on a person so that they (and anyone around them) thinks that magic is being sucked out of the selected victim.**_

 _"Why would anyone need to pretend to suck someones magic out?" She whispered to herself, the spell intriguing her even though she didn't know why._

 _Before she could read anymore a shout echoed throughout the library, startling her and almost causing her to drop the book in her hand._

 _"Hermione!"_

 _It was her dad, he must have finished his chat with Harry, she was about to put the book away but quickly whispered 'hiccium effingo' and copied the whole book into her journal._

 **Chapter 13**

"Harry! Harry, wake up!" Hermione screamed, she'd been shouting at Harry for at least 2 minutes and he just wouldn't get out of bed. Groaning, Harry rolled over and pulled the duvet up over his face in an attempt to block out the light flooding in from the window.

"Just 5 more minutes," Harry mumbled. He'd gotten hardly any sleep last night because he was so excited for today and just wanted to stay in bed.

"You can't sleep any more Harry, we're going to Diagon Alley," Hermione said, beginning to get frustrated with his behaviour.

"I don't want to get up," Harry whined, snuggling closer to the duvet. That was it, Hermione decided she'd had enough and grabbed the end of the duvet and began trying to pull it off her lazy cousin.

Martha opened the door to see what the commotion was about and watched on in amusement as Hermione tried to tug the duvet from Harry, who'd wound himself around the duvet and was clinging to it for dear life.

"Mioneeee, stooppp" Harry cried while Martha laughed at the scene unfolding in front of her.

"Get _*tug_ * Your _*tug*_ lazy arse _*tug*_ out of bed!" Hermione bellowed, giving one last pull before she toppled over onto the floor, duvet in hand, as Martha and Harry laughed hysterically at her misfortune. Hermione got up, dusted herself off and sent a glare in Harrys' direction before giving in and laughing herself.

"At least, I got you out of bed," Hermione chuckled, as the other two began to calm down.

"Now hurry up you two, Severus and Minerva will be here any minute now and the two of you aren't even dressed," Martha told them, chuckling at the looks of horror on the 12 year olds faces at the revelation that they weren't going to be ready in time.

Finally it was the 24th August, the day that the two of them would be meeting Uncle Moony and going to stay with the Weasleys until Hogwarts started again on the 1st September. If they were being honest then both of them were terrified of how Uncle Moony would react to them when they finally saw each other.

Severus and Minnie were going to come and pick them up from the Grangers, who were at work at the moment and were more than happy for Hermione to disappear a couple of days earlier instead of them having to take her to "that freakish school".

"Why didn't we pack our trunks last night?" Hermione moaned, moving book after book into her trunk as she tried to pick only a few to take back to Hogwarts, failing miserably at her task.

"Why don't you just use your journal for those?" Harry asked, remembering what Hermione had told him about the journal that McGonagall gave him.

"Oh my god of course!" Hermione cried, she used the journal daily yet the idea to copy all her school books completely skipped her mind for some reason.

"I swear sometimes you are so ditsy it's hard to believe you're the brightest witch of your age," Harry chuckled playfully, expecting the movement of Hermiones' pillow being thrown through the air and catching it before it could hit him. He could've sworn he heard 'stupid Quidditch reflexes' before she carried on copying books into her journal.

Smiling to himself Harry got up from his crouched position next to Hermiones' bed and practically crawled up behind her, pillow at the ready, an evil grin spread across his face. Before Hermione could even comprehend what was about to befall her she fell forward, a pillow hitting her square in the back of the head.

"Harry!" Hermione yelled, face red and hair static from the impact of the pillow, "I - you - how could you?!" She screamed, shocked by the sudden action from her cousin.

"What can I say? I'm just too sneaky," Harry said, a self satisfied smirk playing across his lips.

As Harry bathed in his own self arrogance Hermione picked a pillow up from her bed, aiming a well placed hit at Harrys' head.

"'Mione!" Harry whined from his position on the floor.

"Payback dear cousin," She laughed, dodging out the way of Harry who was coming at her again with the pillow.

The two laughed and ran, chasing each other with pillows - occasionally getting a hit on the other.

"It's over now Harrikins," Hermione hollered, jumping up onto her bed and grabbing a pillow in her other hand.

"You wish," He replied, the biggest grin ever on his face. Hermione aimed her pillows as he ran over to the bed, expecting him to come for her face. Alas, Harry had other plans, dropping the pillow in his right hand he launch forward, tackling Hermione onto the bed and began tickling her mercilessly.

"Harry! Stop!" Hermione cried, wriggling on the bed as a series of laughs and giggles erupted from her mouth.

"Say you surrender!" Harry told her, chuckling at her reaction.

"I - I - NEVER!" She hollered, relaxing when Harry stopped for a second before attacking again, only this time more violently. Hermione couldn't help the tears of laughter and joy that ran down her face as she laughed louder than she ever had.

"Say you surrender!" Harry repeated, tickling more when she shook her head, "I won't stop till you admit I won 'Mione."

"I - I - I SURRENDER!" Hermione suddenly cried, giving in as the ache coming from her sides became too much due to so much laughing and tickling.

"Didn't think you'd give in poppet."

...

Severus placed his cloak on as he made his way to the front door, today he was picking up Hermione and Harry to take them into Diagon Alley. He'd been looking forward to this for a long time, taking his daughter and nephew out to buy school supplies, it made his heart warm just thinking about it.

Over the past few weeks he'd done some reevaluating of himself, he knew that since Hermione had been taken he'd created a persona for himself, although if he was being honest, it wasn't far from the person he had been before meeting Liv and having Hermione. The only problem now was that his persona was effecting those he loved dearly; Hermione and Harry. He knew that he had to keep up at least a little of the persona if he were going to return as a spy should the Dark Lord ever return, but what was the harm in easing off on the Gryffindors just a bit?

Learning that he not only had Hermione to care about, but also Harry had come as quite a surprise. As much as he revelled in their presence, he wasn't expecting to have both of them back so quickly and it had come as quite a shock to his system when he got Harry back, but as a broken and abused boy, not the happy little boy he remembered from his first couple of years.

Severus loathed to admit it, but he was so riled up he almost stormed into the Dursleys house and killed them on the spot. Every time he looked back on this train of thought he sighed, knowing that it was present in his mind. He knew they deserved to have charges pressed but taking their lives was not the answer, it would only pull him closer to the Dark Arts. He couldn't, he wouldn't, delve so far into them now that he had something to live for again, now that he had hope.

Collecting his wand, Severus made his way out of the house, surveying his surroundings as he made his way down the road and into a little back alley. Checking he was well and truly alone, he spun on the spot, apparating away and to the front of the Granger household.

Upon arriving at his destination Severus straightened his robes and knocked on the door of the house, waiting for it to open. He stood there for a minute, before knocking again - this time a bit louder.

Eventually, the door opened and a small woman with mousy brown hair answered the door.

"So sorry, I was busy cleaning the kitchen and didn't hear the door," Martha said, opening the door fully, allowing Severus to enter.

"You must be Mias' dad, I'm Martha Pettigrew, lovely to finally meet you," Martha reached her hand out, a smile on her face.

"Nice to meet you too Miss Pettigrew," Severus replied stonily, his face a prefect mask. Martha retracted her hand, knowing exactly what all of this was about.

"I understand your worries Mr Snape, but you have no reason to doubt my trust. I've been Hermiones maid since she was little and her friend since she could talk, I'm a squib you see, therefore I'm not ignorant of the wizarding world, and as you may have already figured out, I'm Peter Pettigrews sister. My brother is a pathetic worm and I'm so sorry for anything he's done to you or your family, I've learnt from Mia that he betrayed Harrys' parent, causing their untimely death. Once again, I apologise but I hope that we can learn to trust each other as I do Mia and she does me."

"I will try my best, Miss Pettigrew," Snape told her, his face a little less stony but still cold as he met her eyes.

"Please, call me Martha," She told him, "The children are upstairs, Hermiones room is the second door on the left," She smiled, leaving him to retrieve his daughter and nephew as she retreated back to the kitchen.

As Severus made his way upstairs his cold demeanour from meeting Martha began to slip away as the sound of laughter reached his ears.

He stood outside the door, before opening it slightly and standing in the doorway, the two children on the bed unaware of his presence.

"Say you surrender!" Harry demanded, tickling more when Hermione shook her head, "I won't stop till you admit I won 'Mione."

"I - I - I SURRENDER!" Hermione suddenly cried, giving in due to the ache coming from her sides because of so much laughing and tickling.

"Didn't think you'd give in poppet." Severus said, a smile on his face as he announced his presence to the occupants of the room.

"Daddy!" Hermione hollered, jumping up from under Harry and racing into her fathers arms.

"Hey Uncle Sev, how long've you been stood there?" Harry asked, walking over to Severus and smiling at the affectionate hair ruffle he received.

"Long enough to know that Hermiones' ticklish," Severus smirked, chuckling at the pout on his daughters face.

However, before anyone could say anything more an ear-piercing pop sounded around the room. All eyes turned to the haggard house elf that now stood at the end of Hermiones bed, ears perked and eyes huge.

"Dobby?" Severus asked, surprised at the appearance of Lucius' house elf in his daughters bedroom.

"I - I - Master Snape!" Dobby cried, obviously not expecting him to be present.

"What are you doing here?" He snapped, having gotten over the shock and now more aware, and paranoid, of the little elfs presence.

"I - I - Master Draco told me to come and - and warn Harry Potter sir," He quivered, playing nervously with the dirt stained cloth hanging off his body.

"Malfoy? Warn me? What do you mean warn me?" Harry cut in, striding over to stand next to Dobby.

"Harry Potter sir!" Dobby bellowed, "I is coming to warm you Mister Harry Potter Sir! Harry Potter mustn't go to Hogwarts!"

"Mustn't go to Hogwarts? Of course I'm going to Hogwarts!" Harry replied, his eyes wide at even the thought of not returning to Hogwarts for his second year.

"No! Mister Harry Potter Sir not to return to Hogwarts! It's dangerous! You can't!" Dobby shouted, his eyes watering and hands shaking.

"Okay," Hermione deadpanned, approaching Dobby and kneeling down in front of him.

"Okay?" Severus and Harry both asked at the same time, confused at what she was doing.

"Harry won't go to Hogwarts and be in danger, okay Dobby?" Hermione said, looking the little elf in the eyes, relieved when he nodded slowly before popping out of the room before either Harry or Severus could utter a word.

"Hermione! Of course I'm going back to Hogwarts!" Harry cried in shock.

"I know you are Harry, you will be going back to Hogwarts, where you will be safe and not in danger as far as we are aware. At the moment nothing is jeopardising your safety, now we know to be careful and observe things around us more, in case the danger Dobby's warning us of is real," She stated matter of factly, moving back towards her journal to copy in the last couple of books.

Severus and Harry simply stared at each other, astounded at her logic and quick thinking.

"Didn't think you had it in you 'Mione," Harry admitted, impressed and relieved to have his cousin in his life.

"Had what in me Harry?" Hermione asked, placing her journal in her bag.

"The ability to lie to that poor creatures face,"

"I had to do something, he was obviously not going to let it go until he was told you wouldn't go to Hogwarts," She told him.

"Fair, fair," He nodded.

"Okay, the two of you ready to go?" Severus asked, watching the two of them walk over to their trunks and look at him expectantly, smirking mischievously he answered their looks with a question, "is there anything I can help you with?"

"Please Uncle Sev, our arms are so weak," Harry began,

"We simply can't carry all of our luggage down the stairs by ourselves," Hermione continued.

"If only there was charm to make luggage lighter,"

"And an of age wizard to charm them for us,"

"Now there will be none of that, you sound too much like the Weasley twins for my liking," Severus interrupted before it could any further.

"Who said that was a bad thing?" Hermione chimed, giving her dad a peck on the cheek as he used the feather light charm on their luggage.

"I did," He deadpanned, "Now hurry up, can't have Minerva waiting too long for us,"

"Minnie's going to be there?" Hermione and Harry chorused in excitement.

"Yes, she apologises for not meeting the two of you like she promised, but Dumbledore has had her very busy over the past week or so," Severus informed them, as they walked down the stairs.

"But what will people say when they see you with us and Minnie? Won't they think it's rather bizarre?" Hermione questioned, realising what a spectacle the four of them would make. Harry Potter and his muggleborn best friend going shopping in Diagon Alley with the bat of the dungeons and strict Head of Gryffindor.

"All that will be explained when we arrive at our destination," Severus said, nodding at Martha as Harry and Hermione rushed to give her a hug goodbye.

"See you soon, I'll miss you!" Martha squeezed the two of them tight, relieved and proud that Harry barely flinched this time.

"We'll miss you too Mar," they replied, waving as Severus took them out the house and apparated them to an alley just outside the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron.

"Severus!" Minerva cried, startled at them appearing so suddenly - as she hadn't been expecting them for another 10 minutes.

"MINNIE!" Hermione and Harry cried, racing over to her once they'd recovered from the apparation and enveloping her in a hug.

"Hermione! Harry!" She replied, just as fondly, if not a little more calmly, than the two of them.

"We missed you Min," Harry said, smiling as Minerva ruffled his hair affectionately.

"Yeah, we missed you a lot," Hermione agreed.

"I'm sorry I couldn't see you as I promised, Dumbledore had me -"

"- very busy," they answered for her.

"Dad told us," Hermione filled her in.

"Has he also told you of our plan?" Minerva asked.

Hermione shook her head, "No, he said all would be explained when we arrived."

"Very well, we will fill you in now then, Severus if you would like to begin."

"As you know the two of you being seen with both me and Minvera would be very peculiar and, in some cases, dangerous. As a result, I will be altering my appearance to look more like Hermione and will play the role of Mr Granger," Severus began, stopping momentarily at the look that blossomed on Hermiones face.

"You won't look exactly like him though, right?" She asked, her voice small and eyes wide.

"How would you like me to look poppet?"

"Maybe keep your hair the same length? Just make it brown and add a little wave at the ends. Also, make your complexion a bit tanner and shrink your nose, because your nose is very recognisable to students and many other members of the public." Hermione muttered, not wanting to voice the fact that she only wanted his hair long because Richard Grangers was short, only wanted his complexion to look more like hers because Richard Granger was so pale he was almost translucent.

"Very well Poppet," Severus said, raising his wand to his face and altering his appearance to that of Hermiones choosing, "Is this suitable?"

"Maybe change into muggle clothes, I am muggleborn after all," She replied cheekily, feeling much better at the appearance her father had taken on, nothing like Richard Granger but still recognisable as her father.

Almost instantly Severus' black wizarding robes had disappeared and in it's place was a pair of straight leg, dark-wash jeans and a navy polo shirt with the top button undone, paired with some simple grey trainers.

"Very mugglish," Harry commented, remembering seeing almost all the dads dressed in something similar on the playground in primary school.

"What about you Minnie? Are you not going to disguise yourself?" Hermione asked.

"No Hermione, Dumbledore gave me the task of picking Harry up and taking him to meet the Weasleys in Diagon Alley, so it will not be suspicious if I'm seen with him, and as for you and Severus, if anyone asks then we met you in the Leaky Cauldron and decided to walk around together, as the two of you are best friends after all."

"Wicked," Harry cried, taking Hermiones' hand and walking out of the alleyway, not even waiting for Severus and Minerva to catch up.

"You alright 'Mione?" Harry asked, his voice hushed as he clutched her hand.

"A little nervous is all," Hermione admitted, smiling sheepishly up at her cousin.

"You know just because he's pretending to be Richard Granger, doesn't mean he's going to act like him, he definitely doesn't look like him so just try and be calm about it, okay?"

"I'll try Harry, just his name puts me on edge,"

"I know, but I'll be here and you know it's only Uncle Sev, he just looks a little different,"

"Thanks Harry, I love you, you know that right?"

"I know, just as I love you,"

"Where did you two rush off to?" Severus asked, him and Minerva walking after them quickly.

"Just excited to be seeing Ron again is all," Hermione replied, smiling at her dad and taking his hand in hers.

"I can imagine, from what Molly's been telling me he can't stop talking about the two of you," Minerva informed them, her eyes smiling at the joy that lit up on their faces.

"I can't believe it's been so long since we saw him," Harry said, thinking back to the last time they saw Ron, a little guilt seeming to creep up on him.

"Yeah, a lot's happened since then," Hermione added, she too beginning to feel the guilt.

"Enough of that, let's get going," Severus announced, seeing that they were becoming nostalgic on everything that had occurred over the summer.

...

"When are they gonna get here?" Ron asked, for what must've been the fifth time in the last ten minutes.

Arthur chuckled at his son, loving the fact that he was so excited to be able to see his friends again.

"They'll be here soon Ronald, I've told you already," Molly replied, tutting at her youngest son.

Before he could get involved Arthur walked over to Ron and steered him away from his mother and towards the back of the Leaky Cauldron, hoping to relieve Molly of his insistent nagging for a few more minutes.

Meanwhile, Mollys' attention had turned back to her only daughter Ginny, who was currently wearing a soar expression as her mother played with her hair.

"Mum, I look fine, stop fussing," She grumbled, crossing her arms and slumping back into her chair.

"You need to look presentable, can't have you going around with mud and leaves in your hair from this morning," Molly admonished.

"You aren't fussing with the boys hair, they were out playing Quidditch with me too,"

"Yes, yes, but young boys are meant to be out and about getting dirty and -"

"Young ladies are not," Ginny finished, her voice mimicking that of her mothers as she continued the sentence she'd heard thousands of times.

George and Fred were stood not too far behind their mother and were watching the scene between her and their only sister unfold, catching eyes with Ginny they sent her a little smirk, before both opening their mouths at the exact same time as their mother,

"Young ladies shouldn't be wrestling in the mud," they mouthed, Molly saying the exact thing at the same time.

Ginny tried to stifle her giggle behind her hands, grateful for her older brothers and their mischief.

Before anything else could be said or done the door to the Leaky Cauldron opened, and entering was none other than Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, with Minerva and Severus (whom everyone else believed to be Richard Granger) following closely behind.

"Minerva!" Molly walked over and embraced the woman briefly, smiling at the comfort her friend gave her.

"Molly, it's so good to see you!" Minerva replied, holding the woman at arms length and give her a once over, she never could get over the motherly instinct to check over her cubs, not matter how old they had gotten.

"You too," Molly grinned, "you must be Mr Granger, it's so nice to finally meet you."

"A pleasure to meet you too Mrs Weasley," Severus replied, shaking the womans hand politely.

"Oh, you simply must call me Molly,"

"Then you must call me Richard."

As the adults caught up and chatted about, what the children assumed, were benign subjects the younger generation were having a little catch up of their own.

"Ron!" Hermione cried, racing over to her friend and enveloping him in a hug.

"Hermione! Merlin I've missed you," He replied, hugging her just as tight, before letting go and looking at Harry.

"We've missed you too Ron," Harry said, walking over to Ron and embracing him in a hug.

Hermione watched on, proud with Harry and relishing in his happiness.

"'Mione," The twins chorused, sandwiching her between them and lifting her off her feet.

"We've missed you little bookworm,"

"Yeah, didn't know what we'd do with ourselves,"

"Our brains almost exploded because we didn't have you to tell us when to do our homework,"

"I could've sworn mum thought we went crazy one time,"

"Walked around like zombies, begging for you to come help us,"

"What can I say boys? I have that effect on people," Hermione chuckled, throwing her arms around their necks and pulling them close.

"You sure do 'Mione, you sure do," Fred laughed, lowering her down with the help of his twin.

"We have someone to introduce the two of you too," George said, walking behind George and reaching over to grab something from the end of the table.

"This is the amazing,"

"stubborn,"

"loud,"

"and beautiful,"

"GINEVRA MOLLY WEASLEY!" They finished together, dragging their sister in front of them.

"It's Ginny," She mumbled, her face red with embarrassment as she met Hermione and Harry for the first time.

"Come on guys, you're embarassing her," Hermione told them, grabbing Ginnys' hand and pulling her away from the boys.

"I can't imagine how you ever survived with those two goons as brothers," Hermione chuckled.

"I don't know either," Ginny admitted, liking Hermione already.

"Well I'm Hermione, as you already know," Hermione began, before turning Ginny around so she was facing her cousin,

"And I'm Harry, nice to meet you," Harry said, smiling at Ginny and giving her a little wave as he introduced himself.

As soon as Ginny was turned around and her eyes came into contact with those of Harry Potters her face bloomed into a rich tomato red, a squeak escaping her mouth as he spoke.

"I - I - I er, nice to - nicetomeetyoutoo," She stumbled, before just blurting her words out.

No-one had a chance to address the situation, or Ginnys' peculiar behaviour, as at that moment the adults finished their conversations and were ushering the kids out into Diagon Alley.

"What was all that about?" Harry whispered, walking over with Ron to Hermiones' side.

"I have no idea," Hermione admitted, a little confused by Ginnys' actions.

"Mate, Ginnys' had a crush on you for as long as I can remember. Mum fed her all these stories about The-Boy-Who-Lived, she's grown up on stories of how brave and heroic you are."

"Seriously?" Harry asked, a little freaked out at the information.

"Don't worry about it Harry, I'm sure it's not as bad as Ron's making it out to be," Hermione soothed, not wanting Harry to feel awkward or weird around Ginny, who she was sure was going to be a great friend to the both of them.

As everyone made their way into the alley, Hermione made a mental note to talk to Ginny about her reaction to Harry, because if it made Harry uncomfortable then she sure as hell was going to make sure that it didn't cause him any unnecessary problems.

...

An hour or so had passed since everyone had reunited in the Leaky Cauldron, Hermione was happily holding the hand of her father (even if he currently looked nothing like the actual Severus Snape). While Harry was further in front, chatting and laughing with Ron and the Twins.

They'd already been to Gringotts, as everyone needed to withdraw some cash to buy their supplies. They'd also been to Eeylops Owl Emporium, as Harry and Hermione needed some supplies for Hedwig and Amaya. Now, they were heading towards Flourish and Blotts to get their textbooks.

As they reached the store front they paused, there were so many people bustling in and out of the store. Hermione was sure that it was all because Gilderoy Lockhart was there.

Needless to say, Hermione and Harry were not looking forward to the trip, unlike the other females in the group, apart from Minerva, Hermione had no inclination to drool over the arrogant man.

"'Mione, this is the perfect opportunity to go see Uncle Moony," Harry whispered from behind her, scaring the living daylights out of her.

"Geez Harry, don't creep up on me like that," She hissed back, holding a hand to her heart in shock.

"You should've seen your face," He chuckled.

"ha ha very funny," was the sarcastic reply that came out of Hermiones mouth.

"Seriously though, they're all occupied, Uncle Sev is caught up explaining washing machines to Mr Weasley, Minnie is trying to keep the twins in check and Mrs Weasley is too enraptured by the blonde ponce over there."

"Okay, let's go, we have to try and make this quick though," Hermione urged, dragging Harry out of the store and keeping a hold of him as they ran back towards The Leaky Cauldron and out onto the streets of muggle London.

Making there way to the cafe that they selected Hermione and Harry couldn't help but feel nervous, they had a million thoughts running through their minds.

 _Would he turn up?_

 _What if he didn't believe them?_

 _Would he even want to talk to them?_

"'Mione, is that him?" Harry asked, the two of them had just arrived outside the cafe and had stopped just outside the window, both of them scared to go any further.

"I think it is," Hermione replied, her voice betraying the two emotions she was currently experiencing, nervousness and excitement. There at a small table not too far from the window was a man, his face covered in scars and mousy brown hair littered with scatterings of grey. The battered brown suit he wore hinted at his financial status and the tattered briefcase that lay down by his feet had the initials R.J.L engraved on the side.

"You ready?" Harry asked, absolutely certain that this was Uncle Moony. Hermione nodded, a determined look on her face,

"Let's go."

Hesitantly, the two cousins walked into the cafe, hand encased in the others. As they walked towards the table that sat Remus Lupin they hesitated, then just as they had stopped Remus turned around, his eyes teary and a smile lighting up his face.

"It really is you," He whispered, his eyes conveying so much hurt and sadness that Hermione began tearing up. He'd caught a whiff of their scents as soon as they entered the cafe, his senses picking up the familiar smells that he remembered from when they were babies.

"Uncle Moony?" Hermione asked hesitantly, walking towards Remus slowly.

"Hermione? How? We thought - we thought you were dead."

"It's a long story."

"And Harry, I - I'm so sorry, Dumbledore - he - I couldn't," Remus stuttered.

"It's okay Uncle Moony, we know what the old man can do, we just want to sit and talk," Harry assured him, both himself and Hermione were now stood directly in front of him.

"Can I hug you?" Remus asked, the vulnerability plain as day on his face, before Remus even uttered the last word Hermione and Harry had launched themselves at him, wrapping their arms around him and holding on as if they would never let go.

"Oh my cubs," Remus mumbled, "I never thought I'd see you again,"

"We're here now Uncle Moony," They both chorused soothingly, latching onto his jacket as they tried not to cry. The embrace felt like it lasted hours, yet in reality only lasted a minute or two before they parted and sat themselves down in the chairs opposite him.

"Well, we best get the two of you some hot chocolate and you can tell me everything that's happened to you," He decided, grinning down at the pair in happiness. They only had to wait 5 minutes before the hot chocolates arrived and their story-telling began.

"Well, I suppose we should start off with the night that me and Harry were taken to Aunt Marls ..."

...

The drink with Uncle Moony had gone amazingly, they'd talked for maybe an hour or so and time just seemed to fly by. There were some tears, near outbursts of rage and some laughter along the way, but now they had said goodbye and were heading back to Diagon Alley.

"We've been gone for so long," Hermione muttered, her and Harry were currently racing down the street back towards the Leaky Cauldron. They'd only meant to be gone 15mins tops, but they hadn't anticipated how long the story telling would be.

"What are we going to do? They're going to be so mad," Harry whispered, mainly to himself but still loud enough for Hermione to hear.

It took them only another 3 minutes to get back to The Leaky Cauldron, they'd sprinted almost the whole way, frightened of how long they'd been gone.

"Quick Harry, we need to get back into the Alley, then we can make it seem like we just wandered off to look in some other shops," Hermione cried, urging Harry through the door as the two of them barged through the customers, tapping the pattern on the bricks and running a little longer down the alley before coming to a halt, just a few shops down from Flourish and Blotts.

"We made it, I can't believe we made it," Harry said, smiling at Hermione as they tried to catch their breath.

"I think you spoke too soon Harry," Hermione replied, the smile that was lighting up her face just a few moments ago, was now showing that of abject horror. Turning around Harry gasped, standing just behind them, hands on their hips and expressions that would've made even Voldemort wince, was Minnie and Uncle Sev.

"Where the hell have the two of you been?"

* * *

 _ **A/N: Thank you so much for reading this chapter, I'm sorry for not updating this in a while. Thank you for all of the reviews and kind words, they really mean a lot and I love reading them!**_

 ** _*I've recently started a new network on tumblr called fanficnet, on their we review peoples writing that they send in and post about different oneshot and fanfics. If you want your writing reviewed then check out the blog and send us your writing in :)*_**


End file.
